{"id":923,"date":"2015-06-18T20:58:29","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T20:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geoffcain.com\/blog\/?p=923"},"modified":"2015-06-18T21:33:51","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T21:33:51","slug":"art-history-on-the-internet-a-walkabout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geoffcain.com\/blog\/art-history-on-the-internet-a-walkabout\/","title":{"rendered":"Art History on the Internet: a virtual walkabout"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blue<\/a>

Blue Rigi, painting by J. M. W. Turner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)<\/p><\/div>\n

I sent an image in Facebook to my dear sister Erin this morning. She is a great appreciator of art and a budding artist herself. The image was of one of those gorgeous Turners that seems so simple at first, and then slowly\u00a0begins to say or reveal\u00a0so much, and the next thing you know, an hour is gone. And then Erin messaged\u00a0something very interesting “There is so much art in the world to view. Would love to go on a ‘walkabout’ to see as much as I can in my life time.” And I am all for that, what a walkabout that would be. According to the Urban Dictionary, a walkabout is “a spontaneous journey through the wilderness of one’s choosing in an effort to satisfy one’s itchy feet, a need to be elsewhere, the craving for the open road, that space over the horizon…” I am a huge supporter of museums and experiencing art live. I have traveled a lot just to visit particular paintings or galleries. I like to be with a painting. I also like being with a painting with others. When I can, I even photograph others looking at art. I also like going to artist studios and openings.\u00a0There are some paintings that you can only really experience in person, like Rothko’s enigmatic canvases.<\/p>\n

I look forward to traveling with my sister one day (Berlin? Venice Bianale? We’ll see…), but in the meantime, there are some great sites on the web that take advantage of the latest in high resolution photography and scanning. A virtual art walkabout could include:<\/p>\n