{"id":2230,"date":"2019-06-14T19:40:39","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T19:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsolido.com\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2026-05-25T17:52:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:52:49","slug":"1-8-million-free-works-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsolido.com\/es\/2019\/06\/14\/1-8-million-free-works-of-art\/","title":{"rendered":"1.8 Million Free Works of Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

1.8 Million Free Works of Art from World-Class Museums: A Meta List of Great Art Available Online<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Vincent van Gogh-Self-Portrait-1887<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the first stirrings of the internet, artists and curators have puzzled over what the fluidity of online space would do to the experience of viewing works of art. At a conference on the subject in 2001, Susan Hazan of the Israel Museum wondered<\/a> whether there is \u201cspace for enchantment in a technological world?\u201d She referred to Walter Benjamin\u2019s ruminations<\/a> on the \u201cpotentially liberating phenomenon\u201d of technologically reproduced art, yet also noted that \u201cwhat was forfeited in this process were the \u2018aura\u2019 and the authority of the object containing within it the values of cultural heritage and tradition.\u201d Evaluating a number of online galleries of the time, Hazan found that \u201cthe speed with which we are able to access remote museums and pull them up side by side on the screen is alarmingly immediate.\u201d Perhaps the \u201caccelerated mobility\u201d of the internet, she worried, \u201ccauses objects to become disposable and to decline in significance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rosetta-Stone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fifteen years after her essay, the number of museums that have made their collections available online whole, or in part, has grown exponentially and shows no signs of slowing. We may not need to fear losing museums and libraries\u2014important spaces that Michel Foucault called \u201cheterotopias,\u201d<\/a> where linear, mundane time is interrupted. These spaces will likely always exist. Yet increasingly we need never visit them in person to view most of their contents. Students and academics can conduct nearly all of their research through the internet, never having to travel to the Bodleian<\/a>, the Beinecke<\/a>, or the British Library. And lovers of art must no longer shell out for plane tickets and hotels to see the precious contents of the Getty, the Guggenheim, or the Rijksmuseum<\/a>. For all that may be lost, online galleries have long been \u201cmaking works of art widely available, introducing new forms of perception in film and photography and allowing art to move from private to public, from the elite to the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kandinsky-Composition-II<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even more so than when Hazan wrote those words, the online world offers possibilities for \u201cthe emergence of new cultural phenomena, the virtual aura.\u201d Over the years we have featured dozens of databases, archives, and online galleries through which you might virtually experience art the world over, an experience once solely reserved for only the very wealthy. And as artists and curators adapt to a digital environment, they find new ways to make virtual galleries enchanting. The vast collections in the virtual galleries listed below await your visit, with close to 2,000,000 paintings, sculptures, photographs, books, and more. See the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum<\/a> (top), courtesy of the Google Cultural Institute. See Van Gogh’s many self-portraits and vivid, swirling landscapes at The Van Gogh Museum<\/a>. Visit the Asian art collection at the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries<\/a>. Or see Vassily Kandinsky’s dazzling abstract compositions at the Guggenheim<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And below the list of galleries, find links to online collections of several hundred art books to read online or download. Continue to watch this space: We’ll add to both of these lists as more and more collections come online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art Images from Museums & Libraries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n