Google unveiled on Tuesday a massive update to its year-old Google Art Project initiative, expanding it to more than 30,000 works of art from museums and galleries all over the world, as well as new tools and Google+ integration.
Google's free online art collection now allows users to see an up-close look at artwork from 151 museums in 40 countries, from the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi and the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar to the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia and the White House in Washington, D.C.
Google said the launch of Art Project last year -- which featured art from 17 museums in nine countries and 1,000 images, mainly paintings from Western masters -- received so much attention from art institutions worldwide that more wanted to get involved.
"After the launch of the Art Project last year, institutions worldwide expressed overwhelming interest in joining the project," Piotr Adamcyzk, Google Art Project Team staffer, told Mashable. "We are excited to be able diversify the types of partners involved and include a wide range of artworks. Students, educators, and art enthusiasts alike are now able to interact with art unlike never before."
Google also unveiled a tool to help users explore and discover artwork by searching for period, artist or type. In addition, it integrated its social-networking site Google+ and video-chat feature Hangouts into the experience. Users can join Hangouts corresponding to specific topics to talk with experts and others interested in the project. Google will be organizing the Hangouts with experts, which can fit up to nine people at a time, but art fans can also start one on any art-related topic.
Meanwhile, Street View images of the interior of museums and galleries are now displayed in better quality, providing easy navigation of more than 385 rooms within the museums. Gallery interiors can also be viewed directly within Street View in Google Maps.
Google also updated its My Gallery feature to allow art fans to select any of the 30,000 artworks to build a personalized gallery. Comments can also be added to each painting and the collection can be shared with friends and family.