If You Can't Go to the Museum, the Museum Comes to You - 10 Virtual Tours

Photo above: By Wallygva at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15372441

Although nothing can replace a live experience, with public spaces closed, the world's great museums, together with Google Arts and Culture, offer art lovers a convenient and, above all, safe solution — virtual tours of their collections, which are just as capable of stirring the imagination and inspiring reflection. Since we are now spending more time at home and have a bit more free time on our hands, we suggest making the most of quarantine and putting it to meaningful use. So, let's set off on a journey through the wide world of art:

1. Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Photo: By Vangogho - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1798422

This renowned museum, housed in a former railway station, displays the most famous works of French art created between 1848 and 1914. It holds the largest and most impressive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the world, featuring works by Monet, Manet, Cézanne, Degas, Sisley, Renoir, Van Gogh, and Gauguin. The museum currently offers a virtual walkthrough, so you can admire not only these history-changing masterpieces but also the museum's extraordinary space. Take a walk here!

2. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Vincent van Gogh, "The Starry Night", photo: Wikimedia Commons

The artist himself was Dutch, so it's only fitting that the museum holding the largest collection of his works stands in his homeland, Amsterdam. The modern, elegant building houses more than 200 canvases, 500 drawings, and 750 personal letters. You can spend an afternoon with Van Gogh by clicking here.

3. Guggenheim Museum, New York

The building, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a work of art in itself — a "temple of the spirit" ahead of its time. The spiral staircase inside and the building's exterior echo the shape of a nautilus shell in a strikingly modern way, allowing artworks to be arranged in the space in unconventional ways. Here you will find masterpieces of Impressionism, Expressionism, early Modernism, and Conceptual art. The doors to the Guggenheim are here.

4. National Gallery of Art, Washington

The museum currently has two fascinating exhibitions on view. The first is devoted to American fashion from 1740 to 1895, and the second to the Dutch Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer. Given that Vermeer was not the most prolific of painters, and that many of his works have been lost or destroyed over the years (one stolen painting has never resurfaced), this is a rare chance to see such a valuable collection. Vermeer's works are renowned for the serenity they exude, so we warmly invite you to wander through the painter's simple world, bathed in dreamlike light. Link here.

5. Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

This museum holds the largest collection of Russian art, comprising not only paintings but also sculpture, graphic art, decorative, applied, and folk art, porcelain, furniture, engravings, metalwork, glassware, embroidery, and textiles — over 400,000 items in total, dating from the 10th to the 21st century. Among the famous works by Aivazovsky, Repin, and Surikov, you will also find Malevich's controversial "Black Square".

6. Belvedere Palace, Vienna

If you've always dreamed of taking a closer look at Gustav Klimt's famous works, you no longer need to travel to Austria. Masterpieces such as "The Kiss" and "Judith" are now available online. The Belvedere Palace also holds a large collection of works by Egon Schiele. Take a look!

7. Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

A paradise for lovers of classical art, home to countless works familiar from history textbooks. The building, designed by Giorgio Vasari for the Medici family, was originally intended for a tribunal, an archive, and a theater; only a small space was set aside for the Medici art collection, but the growing collection demanded ever more room, and eventually the entire building became one of the most famous art galleries in the world. Here you will see masterpieces such as Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and Da Vinci's "The Annunciation". A feast for the eyes.

8. Munch Museum, Oslo

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Some of the most powerful and expressive works in art history are now available virtually. Unlike many modernists, Munch died wealthy and celebrated, yet his life was marked by tragedy, and he strove to convey those tragic experiences in his canvases. Among the museum's exhibits are "The Sick Child", a portrait of his sister Sophie dying of tuberculosis, and the famous "The Scream".

9. National Gallery, London

Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35481651

Another world-class gallery you can now visit without the crowds and queues. Its vast collection spans the most important works from the 13th to the 20th century — from Van Eyck's "Arnolfini Portrait" to Van Gogh's "Sunflowers". Besides a Google Street View tour of the museum, you'll find no fewer than 12 online exhibitions, most devoted to individual Monet series — a true treat for Impressionism lovers.

10. Mauritshuis, The Hague

Johannes Vermeer, "Girl with a Pearl Earring", photo: Wikimedia Commons

Small and very compact compared to the other museums on this list, but in no way inferior in quality. This Royal Picture Gallery houses around 800 paintings from the Dutch Golden Age. The crown jewel of the collection is Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring", accompanied by works by Rembrandt and Rubens. As many as 18 small online exhibitions-stories about individual Vermeer paintings are currently available. Especially interesting is the final story, "Stolen Vermeers". No fewer than four of the artist's paintings have tempted thieves over the years.