In spring 2020, as museum doors closed and planes remained grounded, a discreet application gained new importance. Google Arts & Culture is no substitute for travel — nothing replaces the smell of a marble gallery or the happy exhaustion of a day spent at the Louvre — but it offers something precious: access, a window, a way to extend curiosity when the world closes in.
A cultural library born in 2011
The project was launched in February 2011 under the name Google Art Project. In its early days, only seventeen institutions had agreed to participate in three-dimensional digitization. Among them were names that inspire wanderlust: MoMA in New York, the Château de Versailles — also known as the Museum of the History of France — the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the National Gallery in London. A handful of pioneering museums, ready to entrust part of their collections to an still experimental format.
Nearly a decade later, the ecosystem had scaled up dramatically. More than 2,000 institutions across 80 countries now participate in the venture, transforming the application into a living encyclopedia of art and heritage. The service also changed its name — Google Arts & Culture — to signify that it extends far beyond the realm of fine arts alone.
Places once thought inaccessible
What strikes you as you browse the catalog is the eclecticism of the journey offered. You can step behind the scenes of the Paris Opera to understand the performing arts, virtually walk among the ruins of Machu Picchu, approach the Taj Mahal close enough to make out the semi-precious stone inlays, or float aboard a NASA space station. The application also hosted "Face of Frida," the largest exhibition ever devoted to Frida Kahlo, bringing together works, letters, and photographs scattered across multiple continents.
This diversity is perhaps the finest promise of the service: not to rank cultural heritage. A European cathedral, a South American archaeological site, and a scientific institution coexist on equal footing, as so many ways of inhabiting the world.
Beyond the virtual museum: tools for viewing differently
Visiting from a distance is more than just scrolling through images. Several tools integrated into the application transform the experience into a genuine one.
- Street View allows you to wander through galleries as you would in person, at your own pace.
- Pocket Gallery recreates exhibitions in augmented reality, accessible from your smartphone.
- Art Projector virtually projects artworks at their actual size in your living room — a detail that changes everything when you discover the imposing scale of a painting previously seen in miniature.
- Art Camera offers extreme definition, allowing you to zoom in on the texture of a canvas, the craquelé of a varnish, or the painter's hidden signature.
Added to these are history quizzes, playful tools for creating your own works based on existing models, and even a color-based search that matches artworks to the palette of a personal photograph. So many different entry points for audiences who don't all have the same relationship with art.
A precious companion in times of lockdown
What you take away, ultimately, are the anecdotes gathered along the way: a biographical detail about a painter, the story of a royal commission, the hidden meaning of an object placed in the corner of a painting. These small insights, accumulated over time, end up forming a personal culture, made of chosen fragments rather than rushed visits.
In April 2020, with travel at a standstill, the application appears as a companion for transition — not a replacement, but an extension. A way to prepare future itineraries, review the classics, or simply keep alive that curiosity about the world which is, ultimately, the primary driver of travel.
The app is free, available on smartphone and online: Google Arts & Culture.
Florine Dergelet
