Australian Art Goes Global

Last year, we launched the Google Art Project, which brought artworks from some of the world's most famous galleries within reach of Australians who would otherwise have to spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours on a plane.

6 of Australia’s leading galleries have now joined more than 151 cultural institutions in 40 countries in the Art Project. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can now explore more than 1400 artworks from the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Victoria, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, the Melbourne Museum and the Griffith University Rock Art Research Centre.



You can now view more than 30,000 photos of artworks and exhibits in high resolution, and you can easily search across the entire collection, whether you’re looking for a particular artwork (e.g. “Sunflowers”) or browsing and comparing pieces in groups (e.g. all Rembrandts, or all etchings). You can also consult additional reading material or videos as you’re viewing a piece by clicking the “Details” button next to it.

The Art Project also includes 46 ‘gigapixel’ super high resolution images that reveal brushwork details beyond what is visible to the naked eye. This level of detail often leads to a very different experience with the artwork. One striking example is Arthur Streeton’s “Fire’s On”, a famous evocation of Australian heat and sunlight. At high-levels of zoom, you can see in much sharper focus the human drama surrounding the death of a railway worker in an explosion.

You can also take a virtual tour through 46 galleries using Google’s Street View technology. Using the same technology that enables you to wander through city streets, you can stroll through the halls of The Met and the Musee D’Orsay. The Google Art Project also includes a “My Galleries” feature where you can collect your own favourites from across the site, leave comments, upload related YouTube videos, and share your collection with your friends, fellow students, or teachers.

You can find a wide range of art types in the Art Project, from paintings and sculptures to architecture and aboriginal art. Whether you’re a student, an aspiring artist or a casual museum-goer, we hope that the Art Project gives you a fun and innovative way to interact with art—and hopefully inspires you to visit the real thing!

Posted by Amanda Scott, Product Partnerships.