As our world begins to narrow down, our ability to wander around public spaces diminishes every day. The effect of covid-19 has become more of a reality to all of us. With the help of Google Arts & Culture, you can visit museums around the world through virtual online museum tours. With over 6.5 billion place markers on Google Maps, they have made it easier to visit both your old favourites and discover brand new favourites.
Google continues to provide the world with access to places that were only available to world travellers. Google Maps can lead you down the streets of Bogota (virtually) or ‘standing’ across the street looking up at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, you can now see many museums from the comfort of your home.
My suggestion is to use your smart TV and project these tours from your computer to your living room and take a tour of some of the greatest museums in the world. Google Arts & Culture has provided a resource of images and text to guide you through each of the museums. There is no question you will be able to learn something about key paintings in the collection.
Virtual Online Museum Tours
You are provided with an up-close image of the painting. A slide show will walk you through a few key details about the masterpiece from brush strokes, context to symbolic meaning.
The texts about the paintings are curated by the museums themselves so you will get an expert eye on what you are looking at. There are all sorts of interesting facts that you can learn from the curator of the museum about the artist and the painting during virtual online museum tours.
Go to the COLLECTIONS section and you will find the list of museums throughout the world. From there, you can click and find out more information about their most popular acquisitions or collections. Some of the museums even provide slide shows of previous exhibits or link you to current or future exhibits.
You can find information categorized by artist, mediums, art movements, historical events, and historical figures. You will also view individual paintings with description on where it was painted, why or significant details.
You can see many museums by taking virtual online museum tours either on their website or with Google Arts & CultureIf you go to individual museums, you will see that they are creating online exhibits for you to look at. Many paintings have details from creator and the school (or style) it pertains to, where it was created and even when it was acquired by the museum. Many have direct links to the museum’s website.
The amount of information varies from museum to museum. Some virtual online museum tours are pretty detailed and others have only loaded a few of their paintings or sculptures from their collection. You can also click through different virtual tours provided by museums.
Here is my list of Museums to visit on Google Arts and Culture
- Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, Spain
- The National Gallery in London, England
- Museo Dolores Olmedo in Mexico City, Mexico
- Chateau de Versailles in Versailles, France
- Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan (specifically the Diego Rivera Detroit Industry Murals)
- Gold Museum in Bogota, Colombia
- Botero Museum in Bogota, Colombia
- LIFE Magazine Photo Collection, New York City, USA (over 4.4 M images)
- British Museum, London, UK
- Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France
There are quite a few listings of museums that I have visited through the years. You can find some of the videos and blog posts on this page. Some of the posts are listed below.
Museums To Visit #OnTheBlog
I have a deep, deep love of museums and I love to bring my audience to them. Whether it is a temporary exhibit or a video gallery of the museum, you should not miss these museums #ontheblog
- Great Art Pieces & Museums NOT in New York City #myflxTBEX
- Corning Museum of Glass in Corning New York
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas
- Guillermo del Toro at the Art Gallery of Ontario
- Guillermo del Toro video
- The Chihuly Collection in the ROM and in St. Petersburg, Florida
- The Lightner Museum in San Augustine, Florida
- Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan
- Coastal Mississippi Attractions Pass – access to many museums in Coastal Mississippi
- Free or Almost Free Activities in Phoenix, Arizona
- Frank Lloyd Wright Studio in Chicago, Illinois
- Visiting the MoMA in NYC
Margarita Ibbott is a travel and lifestyle blogger. She blogs about travel in Canada, the United States and Europe giving practical advice through restaurant, hotel and attraction reviews. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and other online media outlets.