Google Art Project

The Google Art Project is a feature available since February 1, 2011 the company Web application Google Incorporated. It provides a virtual tour of major international art museums. After starting in 2011, first over 1000 selected works could be considered in very high resolution and with a zoom function. Additional information about this and the artists are displayed on the screen. Each museum is a work available, which can be viewed with a resolution of seven gigapixel to the smallest detail.

For the presentation of the premises the same technology as in Street View was used. For use came the co-developed by Google FotoRobot Gigapan. The user can create his own collection of favorite art works online. He needed to represent the Adobe Flash Player. The difference to a virtual museum is to figure actually existing collections and buildings.

Genesis

The project arose from the possibility of the staff of Google, to use 20 percent of their time on their own projects, and has been adopted by the company. It was realized in only eighteen months under the Google manager Nelson Mattos and required per museum only two nights for the recordings of the paintings and the premises. From the side of the museums when seen, create a promotional effect and new opportunities for education, knowledge and research. Just a year ago, Google had put into Google Earth fourteen issued in Madrid's Prado art as high-resolution photographs available.

Participating museums and selected works of art

To start the project, Google worked together in eleven cities and nine countries in Europe, Russia and the United States at seventeen museums. 1086 images of 486 artists were early February 2011. Each museum presented a work of art for very high resolution playback. Beginning of April 2012, there were already over 30,000 high-resolution artworks in 151 museums from 41 countries. The partnerships with German museums were expanded. With the Altes Museum, the Pergamon Museum, the Old National Gallery, the Art Gallery and the Graphic Collection equal to five sites of the National Museums in Berlin are represented with works of art. The Dresden State Art Collections and the Museum Kunst Palast Dusseldorf taking part.

Reception

The launch of the Google Art Project was soon attracted general attention in the international press. The freedom of the application of advertising and the ease of use were praised, the visual experience of the virtual tour but, in contrast to the high-resolution painting, also criticized because Unkenntlichmachungen and reflexes were disturbing. The quality of extremely high-resolution reproductions was indeed universally admired, but also pointed out that the direct, three-dimensional experience of the art thus not comparable. Experts as the director of Tate Britain, Nicholas Serota and Nicholas Penny, Director of the British National Gallery, pointed out that previously unknown details could be discovered.

Der Spiegel noted that large museums make their stocks even available digitally and described the project as a "gimmick ". There would, for example, already the internet platform Europeana, so that Google had picked up no new idea. On the other hand, it was emphasized that the Internet company had already taken more frequently a leading role and the project was still under the starting phase.

Visitors declines in the museums not be feared; the risk that potential art thieves could use the software for spying on museums, has been considered in the development. Even with Street View, there had been similar, here related to private houses concerns.

In the first week after the launch of the service he had ten million visitors who crafted the 70,000 private collections online.