Imagine going out to visit your favourite place in a foreign country … wait a minute! We are currently going through the Covid-19 pandemic, so is this possible?

Yes, it is. It is possible my little friends; especially for the lovers of art and history, there are places like museums across the world where they can go and see things the way they are showcased — but through virtual tours and the best way is to go www.googleartproject.com — a place where you can see thousands of works of art and their artists, culture and tradition from around the world.

Virtual tours are not a new thing; especially after the spread of Covid-19, in which you should rather stay at home then go out. So in times like this, Google Art Project is a wonderful place to enjoy thousands of art works, history and culture, paintings, sculpture, art varieties, drawings and their artists.

Google Art Project is an amazing site with the homepage full of all the things the site offers. However, for first time visitors this could be confusing, so it is better to go through the categories one by one from the main menu given at the top left, with categories like ‘Explore’ in which you can click on and read the sections Artists, Art Movements, Medium, Historic Events, Historical Figures and Places. Every category you dig into makes you crave for more.

You can take the tours of Van Gogh Museum, MOMA (the Museum Of Modern Art), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Musee d’Orsay Paris, Sorolla Museum, State Darwin Museum, Russia, the Munch Museum Oslo, etc, in ‘Collections’ category from the main menu.

And then there is the never-ending list of themes which explores the arts and culture of various countries, civilisations, their traditions, and their rise and fall through art and culture.

Though every section and category has its own flavour, I found ‘Medium’ quite interesting. Medium, as the word suggest is the intervening substance through which the expression or impressions are conveyed; similarly in art, the medium is the wood, rock, glass, paper, metal, sand, brass, jade, ivory and everything with which the artform takes place.

So when you open any of the medium sections, you are given a brief intro about that particular medium, its artform in pictures, and the artist who has made something out of it. Isn’t it wonderful?

The Google Art Project is very extensive in providing art, culture and history of our world and according to the site, they are working with cultural institutions and artists from around the world to preserve and bring the world’s art and culture online to be accessible to all.

So, all the art lovers, let’s have a read and virtual tour of the world’s best art museums at www.googleartproject.com

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 11th, 2020