It’s not exactly easy to get your usual dose of art and culture these days. As the hard reality of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hover over New York City, social distancing regulations have come into full effect.
Under Governor Cuomo’s “New York State on PAUSE” order, all non-essential businesses have closed, and gatherings canceled indefinitely. Public transportation use has been limited; recreational activities restricted to non-contact, distanced pursuits. These measures might seem harsh, but they are necessary. As of the end of April, New York has reported nearly 300,000 cases of the novel coronavirus — however, there are indications that social distancing has helped slow the disease spread and will help New Yorkers return to normal life soon enough.
“Our efforts are working,” Governor Cuomo told New Yorkers in a press conference. “They’re working better than anyone projected they would work. That’s because people are complying with them […] If we stop acting the way we’re acting, you will see those numbers go up.”
So, for the safety of all New Yorkers, we have to put our weekend trips to Museum Mile on hold. There won’t be any walking through a museum’s crowded hallways, nor jostling for a quick peek at a limited-time exhibit. That said, sheltering at home mandates shouldn’t keep you from exploring NYC’s best art offerings virtually.
In mid-March, Fast Company reported that Google Arts and Culture reached out to over 2,500 museums and galleries around the globe with a novel idea: to provide comprehensive virtual gallery tours to every art lover with an Internet connection. The offerings vary, of course. As Fast Company’s Lilly Smith clarifies in her article, “The featured collections vary depending on the museum, but most include online exhibits, a “street view” that lets you explore inside the institution itself, as well as galleries of the artwork.”
Like Google Maps’ popular Street View feature, this new exploration tool allows users to “walk” through passageways with a few directing clicks. The tour provides 360-degree visual coverage of galleries within some of the world’s most famous museums. International highlights of Google’s new offerings include the National Gallery in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum.
If you’re hoping for a look through the finest art collections that New York has to offer, never fear — Google has you covered. Below, we profile three museums that you can explore virtually this weekend.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Under more ordinary circumstances, the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be preparing for its 150th-anniversary celebration. Today, the Met’s collection encompasses a trove of work from around the globe and across 5,000 years of artistic practices. As the Museum itself shares on its website, “Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions and events, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.”
The Museum’s physical doors are closed, of course, but you can still appreciate a few of its galleries online through Google’s interior Street View.
Guggenheim Museum
The corkscrew architecture of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is delightfully dizzying in person. While online visitors might not get the full, vertigo-inducing effect by steering through a virtual platform, the visual splendor of the space is still easy to see. Digital explorers can take an uninterrupted “walk” up the Museum’s spiral ramp and enjoy its diverse collection of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern art in one continuous journey.
The Museum of Modern Art
If you have a passion for modern art, you need to take a (virtual or otherwise) trek through the Museum of Modern Art. For nearly a century, MoMA has given visitors a chance to study and enjoy some of the most notable masterpieces of the modern era. Google can, unfortunately, only offer a glimpse of 129 of the Museum’s most-beloved artworks; these include Van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Rousseau’s The Dream, among others.
Don’t let current circumstances keep you from enjoying art. Explore your favorite New York City museums from the safety and comfort of your home!
Originally published on NovelPropertyVentures.com
