Saturday, March 14, 2015

A Virtual Museum Excursion

Part of learning to live well, I think, is looking for those little things that make each day nicer - those small touches that educate, entertain, enlighten, inspire. When they are free... all the better.

I just learned that Google has come out with a new extension for its Chrome browser that shows a beautiful piece of art every time you open a new browser tab. It's called the Google Art Project. I immediately went to the Google Web Store, installed it, and I love it! Turns out this is part of the Google Cultural Institute.

The extension (app) only works if you use Google's Chrome browser, which I do. I like the way it links everything across my devices, both my Windows computer and my Chromebook. Art Project is free from the Google Web Store. If you don't use Chrome, you can still visit the Google Cultural Institute and browse to your heart's content. More below.

By the way, the painting it first showed me (in the above screenshot) is called "A Calm at a Mediterranean Port" by Claude-Joseph Vernet, from the J. Paul Getty Museum. I have happy memories of visiting that amazing museum years ago! In case you're worried about losing your "most visited sites" that normally appear on new tabs in Chrome, there is now a little icon at right bottom that will bring those back. And another "refresh" icon near the bottom left that will feed you a new piece of art. So this app is entertaining, inspiring, and educational all at the same time. Highly recommended.

Now, I have to confess that up until now, I didn't even know there even was a Google Cultural Institute! This website provides a portal to an amazing collection of what they call "art projects, historic moments, and world wonders".

If you click around, you'll find an amazing amount and variety of wonderful "stuff" to explore. I found so many things in just a couple of minutes, including pictures of a collection of beautiful southwest Native American baskets and pots from the San Bernardino County Museum in California, another museum I've enjoyed. I wonder if they have pictures of their amazing collection of bird's eggs? And pictured here is just one of a collection of ornithology prints from a collection at the University of Virginia. Anyway, I'll leave you to explore...

I am just so impressed that Google has done this. I knew they scanned huge volumes of printed materials from libraries around the world. But this Cultural Institute offering is incredible. For us seniors who don't have the resources to travel the world visiting museums, it's a gift. And for those who no longer have the mobility or the eyesight to be able to fully enjoy the museums they can get to, this is especially nice I think. We can sit in the comfort of our homes and peruse the collections of museums the world over. Thank you Google!

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