Google Art Project

Here's something you have to see to believe. Google has teamed up with 17 major art museums worldwide, including the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the MoMA in New York, London's Tate Gallery and more, to offer Google Art Project.

At Googleartproject.com, you can virtually walk around museums browsing or hop from floor to floor or room to room using the floor plans, or you can search for paintings or artists you are interested in. Once you select a work of art, you can zoom in to see details, even to examine brush strokes. Information on each painting and painter, and even Youtube links for living artists, are included.

Here's a brief video explanation of how to use the site.

And here's the very charming Amit Sood, one of the developers of the project, giving a TED Talk and demo showing some of the most interesting and flexible features of the project. This is well worth watching. Sood shows details of a few of his favorite paintings, including Pieter Bruegel's The Harvesters, recorded in 10 billion pixels. Let Sood show you what you can view with that level of detail available to you. He also shows you how you can make your own collection of artworks based on your favorites worldwide, and then share them with family and friends via social media.

Art lovers and casual browsers alike, enjoy!