Imagine your being able to stroll through world-renowned art museums without having to leave your home. You’re sitting in your living room, coffee in hand, and suddenly you’re face-to-face with a Van Gogh, or walking through the grand halls of the Louvre. Sounds unreal? Welcome to the world of virtual online tours of art museums, where technology meets culture in an effort to make art accessible to anyone who owns a device that is connected to the internet. That is quite a grandiose way of describing what is actually an awesome way of feeding your inner art lover, and trust me-it’s way more fun than it sounds.
What is an Online Art Museum Tour?
For those who might be ignorant, a virtual art museum tour is pretty much what it sounds like: an online walkthrough of some of the world’s greatest museums and galleries. You take a 360-degree, interactive tour where you can set your own pace for viewing paintings, sculptures, and exhibits. Some tours come with zoom features, high-quality images, and audio guides that give deeper insights into the art and its history. The best part? You can do all of this without ever putting on pants or dealing with crowds!
Why Take an Online Art Museum Tour?
Let’s face it: a flight around the world to the Louvre or the Met may not be in your bucket list for this year-or maybe ever. Perhaps you are running out of time, maybe the travel budget is not quite there, or maybe you just aren’t up for the hassle of international travel. That’s where online art museum tour come in. They represent a pretty easy, fairly inexpensive way to take in some art and culture from the comfort of your own home.
It’s not only a matter of convenience, but there’s something very intimate in the idea of spending time with a piece of art in silence without the noise and bustle of a crowded gallery. You can stand in front of a painting and zoom in on details, really take it all in. No more running to keep up with a tour group or to see over someone’s shoulder to catch a glimpse of a masterpiece. It’s just you and the art.
What Do You See?
From the ancient sculpture to the contemporary installation, the kind of art on offer from these virtual tours is incredibly varied. A selection of some of the more well-known pieces includes:
1. Classic Art Museums
If you are more into classical works, then a tour to famous institutions is going to be right up your alley, be it Paris’ Louvre, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, or Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. You will have access to the “Mona Lisa” or “The Birth of Venus” with just a few mouse clicks.
2. Modern Art Galleries
If it’s contemporary that you’re more interested in, there are a host of galleries to investigate. The Guggenheim, MoMA, and Tate Modern also offer virtual experiences, enabling you to see the most cutting-edge pieces from far off without needing actually to travel to New York or London. You can see works by artists like Picasso, Warhol, and Rothko right from your living room.
3. Specialty Exhibits
Online virtual tours of museums and galleries also present special exhibitions to you that, for obvious reasons, you might have only temporarily or location-specifically accessed. Whether it is a deep dive into the Renaissance, an exploration of Asian art, or a showcase of digital media, you’ll have access to curated experiences that just can’t be seen in person.
The Virtues of Going Virtual
You might say, “Sure, online tours of art sound cool, but isn’t that just the super watered-down version of the real deal?” Not at all! While nothing takes away from seeing a piece of art in person, there are most definitely a lot of added benefits to going virtual:
– Accessibility: You get to visit museums you otherwise would not be able to visit due to cost, time, or other such constraints.
No Crowds: Virtual tours mean that one gets to experience art in peace, sans fighting for a view or dealing with distractions.
Control: While during a real tour you are bound by the route or the time-scale, during virtual tour, you determine the pace. You want to spend an hour staring at a single painting? You can just do that! You want to skip past an entire wing of sculptures? That’s entirely up to you.
– Educational Value: Most online tours come with additional resources such as video commentary, text descriptions, and audio guides that provide deeper insight into the works. You might end up learning even more than you would in a real-life tour.
How to Get the Best Experience
Just a few basic tips will help you make the most of your online tour through an art museum:
Set the Mood: Dim the lights. Grab a drink. Settle in. Treat it like the real thing, because it is!
Big Screen: For Pete’s sake, you can’t enjoy great art if you are peering into the tiny screen of your smart phone. Fire up your tablet, laptop, or better yet desktop monitor-even your TV-to get fully immersed in the experience.
Take Your Time: Remember, this is your tour; you are not rushing through it. The beauty of the virtual tour is there is no one to rush you forward-you can go back to the pieces, zoom in on them further, or even come back another day and pick up where you left off.
