The one thing I miss most at the moment is going to a museum or a gallery. I used to make many solo trips to different exhibitions which became a favorite little hobby of mine. Given the situation we are currently in, I’ve tried to satisfy my interest in art by following many more artwork and art history pages, as their own and on different social medias—which has definitely worked as I’ve really enjoyed the lovely content. Although, it will never beat being in the same physical space with an art piece where, if you truly like the work, you might feel the exhilarating feeling that you are in the presence of a work that was actually touched and made by the artist. At least this is my experience most of the time. Nevertheless, if you feel like occasionally immersing yourself into art or bringing it more into your life through social media, here are some suggestions.
With many art enthusiasts engaging with different online platforms, the internet definitely satisfies the amateur art lover in making it easy to discover and learn about different works. One of the pages that I’ve come to frequent is WikiArt.org, which has this lovely feature of giving the viewer an “artwork of the day” every time she visits the page. (Of course, if you tend to be silly like me, you might refresh the page ten times just to see what it will show.) Occasionally I become interested in a specific artist or style—or genre, like landscapes—and search them just to engage a bit in this little amateur hobby. Now, WikiArt, like your faithful Wikipedia, is built by regular enthusiasts who have wanted to broaden the page’s content, so some artworks and their creators might have detailed pages whereas some may be lacking in information. Still, it is worth checking out in the sense of just exploring what is out there, so it is simpler, but the works are immediately there. (And why not have the page saved so you can just click it and see the artwork of the day?)
There is also the incredible Google Arts & Culture, that is more connected to the art world and its cultural institutions. In fact, Google Arts has partnered with more than 2000 institutions to make their collections available to anyone anywhere, and their technology aims to give excellent quality to the pieces so that they can be appreciated from your screen. Museums have their own pages as well as the artists if you have a specific person and their work in mind. (Our good old Ateneum can be found here as well.) Since the name also holds “Culture”, this branch of Google offers significantly more than just artworks, like different ways to explore – for example different cities and museums from the inside – and cultural history as well as art and cultural treasures from around the world. I tend to visit this page when I’m in the mood to explore the artworld much more than usual, and one of my absolute favorite things about Google Arts is that they have a feature where you can zoom into an artwork and it is in amazingly high definition. (One of these, at the moment, is Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, and I became amazed when seeing all the details of the painting’s surface. Incredible.)
Naturally, Instagram is also filled with art enthusiasts as well as museums having their own accounts which fits people who tend to browse much more on their phones. One of my favorite pages is A Painting a Day, which focuses on posting an artwork every day and so, makes sure that your feed is looking lovely and colorful. (And why not educational?) Another, which is perfect for those who like focusing on an artwork’s details as well as the whole composition, is Art History Details. This page satisfies the aesthetic sensibilities where one might also love to focus on the colors and details of the works to appreciate them more. A third which I’ve come to like is ABSTRACT, a colorful page which specializes in abstract art – one of my absolute favorite styles – and has a more modern focus, but not only in the pieces but also in presenting interior design which can give great inspiration to bringing art into your home. There is also Texts From Your Existentialist which makes art pieces significantly more interesting and really amusing. With an amazing variety of art styles, I’ve actually followed this page the longest and it has become a creative demonstration of how art and modern culture can be connected.
And again, you can also follow museums and galleries on Instagram which tend to add longer descriptions and historical information—something I would definitely encourage. At the moment, we can only hope that things will get better soon so that we can safely visit these cultural institutions again and marvel at artworks from up close. I myself am particularly looking forward to this, almost possessing excitement – especially since it has been a while.
(By the way, as I’m now checking the WikiArt page, the artwork of the day is The Persistence of Memory (1931) by Salvador Dali.)