Australian galleries join Google Art Project

Six galleries in Australia Wednesday joined the Google Art Project, which provides an online platform to view thousands of artworks in detail from anywhere in the world. The Art Gallery of New South Wales will have 415 of its key works available for viewing. More than 250 of these will be accessible via the 3D museum-view walkthrough. Artists represented include John Constable, Gustave Courbet, Ford Madox Brown, Eugene Delacroix, and Australians Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Timmy Payungka Tjapangati and Barrupu Yunupingu. "The Google Art Project has enabled us to be just one of six galleries in Australia to showcase our most iconic and popular works," said Art Gallery of New South Wales director Anne Flanagan. "Never before have we been able to get so close to the artwork: almost beyond what the human eye can see. "To think, that while a person here at the gallery is viewing a work, someone else, anywhere in the world, can also be viewing the same work with such crystal-clear definition." The aim of the Google Art Project is to transform how art is viewed and to make it universally accessible. It uses Street View cameras in rooms to capture images in 360 degrees to provide a sense of being able to gaze around full circle, zooming in on pieces of art or other features. A total of 151 cultural institutions in 40 countries are now part of the project, which was first launched last year.