Best Art Museums to Visit During Quarantine

by Alara Balcısoy

After reading the title, you might have thought “We are supposed to stay home; I’m not risking my life over seeing a piece of canvas splashed with paint.” and you would be right to do so. Right now, our main objective is to prevent placing unnecessary pressure on an already struggling health system, and the best way to do so is by staying at home. However, this shouldn’t detract from your entertainment, considering that we need it the most right know. In its core art is a form of entertainment aimed at stimulating your senses and awakening your emotions, which are mostly neglected as we struggle to find a way to kill time every single day. So, in order to avoid becoming ill from the second pandemic of 2020 – chronic boredom – here is a selection of museums offering online visits to their collections.

United States:

• The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

https://www.guggenheim.org/collection-online 

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Located in New York City, the Guggenheim Museum is a modern art museum like no other. The online collection features over 1,700 works by more than 675 artists, all available for you to view.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

https://www.guggenheim.org/collection-online

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-metropolitan-museum-of-art

One of the most prominent encyclopedic museums in the world, the Met offers two services to those who want to take a look at their collections which range from Ancient Egyptian shabti dolls (small funerary figures that accompanied the deceased to the afterlife) to Van Gogh. The first link is for the Met’s recently added works while the second one is a collaboration with Google and has further exhibitions. 

• The J. Paul Getty Museum

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-j-paul-getty-museum?hl=en

The foremost art museum of Los Angeles, the Getty museum has a wide-ranging collection from all periods of history. Like the Met, the link is a collaboration with Google and includes two online exhibits and offers a glimpse into the more extensive permanent collection.

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Europe and the United Kingdom:

• The Louvre

https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs

As a museum synonymous with the Mona Lisa, the Louvre is an unmistakable hallmark of art museums. However, it also has numerous other works in its permanent collection, such as rare Egyptian artifacts and paintings by Rembrandt, which are presented in its online exhibitions.

• The Vatican Museums

http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/tour-virtuali-elenco.html

If you are looking for uncontested exuberance, be it crucifixes embroidered with gold or spiritual statues, the Vatican is for you. Its virtual tour has 360 degree images of all of the exhibition rooms.

• The British Museum

https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-british-museum

Another encyclopedic museum, the British Museum offers some of its pieces to be viewed online. Also, you can take a tour of the museum using Google street view. (second link).

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International:

• The Google Art Project

https://artsandculture.google.com

Google’s Arts & Culture website has access to numerous other museums and cultural heritage sites from all over the museum, ready for you to explore.