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‘Art Zoom’ provides guided tours of masterpieces from music stars w/ Google Arts & Culture app

Google’s Arts & Culture app is a great way to learn about famous art, locations, music, and cultural phenomena. The latest series of “Art Zoom” utilizes Google Arts & Culture to offer guided tours of famous artworks by equally famous musicians and performers.

Art Zoom pairs Google Arts & Culture with stars such as Grimes, FKA twigs, Ellie Goulding, The 1975’s Matt Healy, J.Balvin, and Twice lead-singer Chaeyoung as they narrate you through some of the world’s most famous masterpieces. This is actually the second season of the Art Zoom series, which featured Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Feist, Maggie Rogers, Lolo Zouaï, and Girl in Red.

Using Google’s “gigapixel” ridiculously high-resolution robotic camera, you can zoom into selected artwork at a literal brushstroke-level, helping you uncover hidden details that you may never notice even when face-to-face with such masterpieces.

This second season of Art Zoom, sees your musical guides managing a world tour across art history starting from the European Renaissance with Bruegel’s daunting vision of hell to Botero’s modern Columbia and Youngkuk’s Korean mountains.

Journey through Renaissance Belgium with Grimes, who takes us on a lively exploration of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s “The Fall of Rebel Angels” — an apocalyptic yet comic vision of monsters invading Earth as angels struggle to repel them. 

  • Join FKA twigs’ expedition to brighter spaces as she takes on Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy.” She observes Mary Magdalene as she appears to enjoy a moment of peaceful oblivion. 
  • Explore love, peace and calm with Ellie Goulding through her musings on “escapism” in Julie Mehretu’s piece to “strength” with Yves Klein and “chaos” with Cy Twombly. 
  • Fast forward in time with Matty Healy to the 20th century. Starting in Italy, we dive into Piet Mondrian’s “Grande composizione A con nero, rosso, grigio, giallo e blu.” Healy sees this abstract masterpiece as an “infinite portal” of interpretations, taking us beyond the real world into the corners of our mind. 
  • Transport to Medellin, Colombia with J.Balvin, who shares the untold story behind Fernando Botero’s “July 20th.” Beyond the joyful colors, he sheds light on the gloomy faces of the painting’s characters, and the role of art as a safe space in dark times. ● Travel to Korea, with Twice lead-singer Chaeyoung hiking to the top of Yoo Youngkuk’s “Mountain,” where she questions his interpretation of nature, one made of strong colors, shades, flowy lines and touchable textures.

If you want to get started you can head directly to g.co/ArtZoom or download the free Google Arts & Culture app for iOS and Android.

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Avatar for Damien Wilde Damien Wilde

Damien is a UK-based video producer for 9to5Google. Find him on Twitter: @iamdamienwilde. Email: damien@9to5mac.com


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