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MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

Technology can provide a way of experiencing artworks that are currently behind closed doors, sitting deep in a dusty archive, or housed on the other side of the world. Although many people would say there's no way of matching the experience of seeing something in the flesh, the versions we can access online go some way in bridging the gap. Scroll down to see a selection of artworks, videos about collections and archives, and the architecture and location of some museums and galleries.

WATCH

FROM GLASGOW UNIVERSITY TO KELVINGROVE MUSEUM

We glide along with the help of this extremely smooth video. It traces the walk around and between two architectural giants of the West End.

Image: Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery Central Hall by Michael D Beckwith  (CC use). A colour photograph of the interior of the main hall; the spce is very bright with pale tiles and stonework and a golden arched ceiling. There's a first floor level that overlooks the hall down the left and right sides. At the far end is a large pipe organ dominating the first floor balcony area. Grand gold and white glass lights hang througout the space.

Image: Kelvingrove Museum and Gallery Central Hall by Michael D Beckwith  (CC use)

READ | ARCHIVE

THE PEOPLE'S PALACE 

An old postcard depicting the grand red sandstone building of the People's Palace, with the glass Winter Gardens building visible to the left hand side. The image is empty of people, the lawns are very neat and it's a bright cloudy day.

The People's Palace on Glasgow Green is a popular social history museum and a chance to see the story of the people and city of Glasgow from 1750 to the present. 

"The People's Palace and Winter Gardens provide one of the focal points for Glasgow Green. This was Glasgow's first public open space and was given to the people of the city by the Bishop of Glasgow in 1450. Once used primarily for washing, bleaching linen, grazing, drying fishing nets and swimming, it now serves a variety of leisure uses as one of the City of Glasgow's many public parks: though perhaps still the one held in the greatest affection by most residents of the city."

(Undiscovered Scotland)

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CLICK HERE for an in-depth article about the social, cultural and political history of the museum. This piece traces how it was conceived, curated and how it has changed over time, in parallel with the ever increasing privatisation of once public space.

Image: The People's Palace and Winter Gardens. Courtesy of Hailey Maxwell. A colour photograph of the inside of the Winter Gardens at Glasgow' People's Palace. In shot are many palm and tropical trees, the red sandstone rear wall of the People's palace and the glass and metal structure of the Winter Gardens itself.

Image: The People's Palace and Winter Gardens. Courtesy of Hailey Maxwell.

Image: Inside The People's Palace. Courtesy of Hailey Maxwell. In shot is a yellow Castlemilk Anti-Poll Tax banner from 1983 and a banner for the Camlachie Branch Independent Labour Party.

Image: Inside The People's Palace. Courtesy of Hailey Maxwell.

INTERACTIVE

EXPLORE MARY CASSAT'TS PAINTINGS

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Image: Mary Cassatt Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878. Public domain image. An impressionist painting depicting a small girl sitting on a turquoise blue chair in the foreground; she wears a white dress and has a tartan blanket over her belly, her left arm is bent upwards and her hand cradles her head. Next to this chair is another with a small terrier lying down, and in the background are two more chairs.

Image: Mary Cassatt Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878. Public domain image.

An impressionist painter and printmaker, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) is known for capturing the quiet moments of figures, especially between mother and child,  movement, tone and light. Coming from an affluent family, she was able to study in Paris and Rome, and was latterly influenced by Japanese printmaking.

INTERACTIVE

ZOOM INTO MONET'S

'THE WATER LILY POND'

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Image: Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond, 1899. Public domain image. An impressionist painting of a sunshine dappled bridge over a lily pond, surrounded by willow trees.

Image: Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond, 1899. Public domain image.

One of many 'in-painting tours' from the National Gallery.

WATCH

SECRETS OF THE MUSEUM

This BBC series looks at the work taking place behind the scenes in order to conserve the old and fascinating objects residing in the Victoria and Albert museum in London.

Image: Frieze detail from internal courtyard showing Queen Victoria in front of the 1851 Great Exhibition  (CC use). The photograph depicts a portion of the frieze and is gold and black.

Image: Frieze detail from internal courtyard showing Queen Victoria in front of the 1851 Great Exhibition  (CC use)

INTERACTIVE

EXPLORE VERMEER'S

'THE MILKMAID'

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Image: Johannes Vermeer, The Milk Maid, 1657-58. Public domain image. This famous painting depicts a milkmaid wearing a white headscarf, golden-beige buttoned dress and royal blue apron, she is pouring milk into a bowl from a teracotta coloured jug. On the table there's also a basket of bread. We can see part of a window with small panes on the left, and baskets hanging on the cream worn walls, and a small box on the floor behind her, which appears to contain another small vessel.

Image: Johannes Vermeer, The Milk Maid, 1657-58. Public domain image.

One of many 'in-painting tours' from the National Gallery.

INTERACTIVE

EXPLORE FRIDA KAHLO'S CASA AZUL

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A colour photograph of a portion of a building painted bright blue, with rust red doorframes and windowframes and green doors and grills. There's a brightly coloured yellow low wall with succulent plants in terracotta pots and a tree trunk. The scene is bathed in brigh sunshine..
A colour photograph of a garden, yellow painted stairs with chocolate brown stepped walls and bright blue pots leading to a bright blue painted low-rise building. The building is Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul, or Blue House. The sun is shining.
A colour photograph of the interior of Kahlo's Casa Azul, or Blue House. In shot is a wooden easel with painting of friut and a wheelchair facing the easel; windows with small panes are visible and tiny glass jars in the foreground.

Photographs of Casa Azul (by Rod Waddington) and Kahlo's easel and wheelchair. All CC.

Explore the different rooms of Kahlo's Blue House on the outskirts of Mexico City, with this virtual tour. Kahlo spent her childhood here and the latter part of her life when she was unable to travel.

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