January 15, 2020
In January 2018, social media feeds took a step back in time as users uploaded selfie after selfie alongside their historical art twins — all thanks to the Google Arts & Culture app. The app quickly went viral as people discovered they had rather interesting art doppelgängers, such as young boys from the 1700s, Roman gods, and even various caricatures from obscure artists. It didn’t matter if the match was a hit or miss, as CNN reports that the app topped both the iOS and Android app charts the week it took social media by storm.

However, there’s more to the Google Arts & Culture app than just finding your art lookalike, as it’s filled with other fascinating features. For instance, many people dream of visiting iconic museums like the Louvre in Paris or the Tate Gallery in London. Luckily, through the app’s Explore and Discover feature, you don’t need a passport to view over 32,000 artworks from 46 museums all over the world. Additionally, some of these museums have given users an all-access pass through guided tours found on the app’s Video and Audio Content feature. And its Education feature offers art education to anyone with tools like YouTube videos, quizzes, and other learning resources.
This project has been in the works since 2011, when Google opened its Cultural Institute in Paris with the aim of bringing tech and creative communities together to find novel ways to open up art and culture to the world. According to HP‘s report on the Google Arts & Culture app, it was then that the tech giant began to build relationships with museums across the globe in an effort to digitally catalog all of their archives. These efforts have since borne fruit: Unsearchable art now has the chance to be discovered and shared, and ultimately, the app was created. The digital archive not only helps museums keep their pieces for the centuries ahead, but it also helps them protect art from flooding or accidents, like in the case of this damaged Dalí painting in a Russian gallery.
Aside from museums and galleries, the app is also reaching out to lesser-known art communities. Case in point, they put the spotlight on Indian rural artisans by launching the ‘Crafted In India’ series last October. This new feature showcases the beauty of their crafts to digital audiences who might not have been aware of rural Indian art before. And with the help of musical star Lin Manuel Miranda, over 350 paintings from Puerto Rico were digitized for the first time just last November. Puerto Rican artists have long faced space limitations and fiscal restraints to showcase their paintings, but the app has now given them a spot on the global digital stage.
While the Google Arts & Culture app may have gained its popularity because of its viral Art Selfie feature, its purpose of showing the wonders of the art world is absolutely vital. Whether it’s zooming into various brush strokes through its robotic Art Camera feature or digitally strolling through a far away museum, the app provides users with an enlightening art experience unlike any other. To step inside this creative marvel, you can download the app on the App Store or Google Play.