Google's cool new art search helps even couch potatoes get cultured

Now you can easily explore the world's best museums from your couch.

Google launched a new experience for searching art work from museums, the company announced Wednesday in a blog post.

"Starting today, when you search for art-related things, you’ll have access to more relevant results and the ability to dive deeper into topics of interest," wrote Google, which says it gets 500 million art-related searches each month.

The project is a collaboration between Google's Arts & Culture, Search, and Maps teams. Searching for an artist now leads to an interactive result that allow you to see collections of the artist's work or scroll through museums to view the paintings on the wall. Some of the pieces also include high-resolution images.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Now, Google Maps also allows you to "walk through" rooms of museums with annotations and information on the wall next to each piece. Clicking through will let you view higher resolution imagery.

The update is part of a larger project which also includes projects like the presidential gallery and the Art Camera.