In this golden age of technology, you no longer need an art history degree to be an art connoisseur.
Just free up space on your smartphone and download these must-have apps.
To connect with art: Artsy
Artsy aims to “make all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.”
Helped by the Art Genome Project, a collaboration between art historians and engineers to assign value to artwork based on a series of “genes”.
Artsy partners with the world’s best galleries, auction houses, art fairs and museums, featuring over 50,000 diverse artists and 500,000 artworks.
To discover art: Muzei
Imagine waking up to a new piece of art every morning, and then spending some time reading about it because you simply clicked on it.
This popular app is a plug-in-and-play that takes over your phone background, showing you something new daily.
Artists include Modigliani, Cezanne, Monet, Klee, the two Bruegels, Hokusai, Van Gogh and more.
The Shazam of Art: Magnus
Though this isn’t the best app for Indian art, Magnus hopes to tell you what you’re looking at if you simply upload a picture of it.
Based on the music discovery app Shazam, Magnus currently covers artworks from Paris, London, New York, LA, Sao Paulo and Berlin with a 70 per cent match rate.
It also works as an art travel guide for those cities, through which you can find interesting events and exhibitions.
For global art updates: Google Arts and Culture
The result of one of the greatest art and archiving undertakings today, this app makes important cultural material from across the world accessible.
Discover artworks from partner institutes including major museums and places of cultural practices based on the collections and exhibitions they feature.
Your go-to art encyclopedia: WikiArt
A product from the Wikipedia stable, WikiArt is considered one of the largest online repositories of fine art, hosting images and information on over 110,000 artworks by more than 2,000 artists from across 73 countries, making it one giant library of references for any art lover to get lost in.
Your own portable museum: Musee Du Louvre
It is impossible to see everything the Louvre holds in a day, or even a week, really. Luckily, the folks at one of the world’s most visited museums are aware of this.
Their recommended fix is the Musee Du Louvre app, loaded with videos and conversations with experts, and updates on past and ongoing exhibits alongside their massive collection.
To top it all, many works are available as high-resolution, download-friendly images so art lovers can print their favorite art.
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