Traditionally, the only way to fully experience the world’s greatest artwork was to either have the fortune to visit a gallery like The Louvre or MoMA, or wait and hope that the artist or pieces you were interested in would tour somewhere near you.
But that’s not the case anymore.
Over the past five years, publishers and art museums alike have been hard at work digitising collections and distributing them for free via online archives. With a click of the mouse, the curious can discover everything from the final art of the Aztecs, to the origins of cubism, or the complete works of Picasso.
New to the series this week are 200 tomes from the archives of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, chronicling and analysing the careers of some of the most venerable artists who have displayed there.
The books – some dating back to the late 1930s – are part of a greater trove of resources that includes the 205 publications available from Getty Publications’ Virtual Library, and 43 titles in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Reading Room.
No contributions compare to that of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, however. Earlier this year, the Met released 1611 books, and a staggering 375,000+ high-resolution images – a quarter of their entire collection – under the Creative Commons Zero universal copyright, which grants users complete rights to share, reproduce, and modify the photos for any use.
It’s all part of an endeavour to make art more freely available to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to consume it. “Our core mission is to be open and accessible for all who wish to study and enjoy the works of art in our care,” said Met director Thomas P. Campbell.
At a time when cultural funding is at a devastating low, the digital collections are also an innovative and inspiring means to ensuring art maintains a presence throughout society. In times of great social division, after all, art has the power to become a unifying force.
Check out the Guggenheim’s collection here, or click above to view the digital collections of other galleries.