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Google Arts & Culture is a free platform for exploring artwork, applied arts, and cultural artifacts from around the world. Launched in 2011 by Google LLC, Arts & Culture is available as a website, and as an app for both Android and Apple smartphones and tablets.

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At its core, Google Arts & Culture is an expansive image database. Hundreds of thousands of images from museums, galleries, and cultural institutions are available for view. Along with each image, information about the artist, medium, date of creation, size, and present location are provided. Many images also have detailed descriptions of the content, including background information on the culture, artist, or movement.

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Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889 - James Ensor - Google Arts & Culture

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James Ensor took on religion, politics, and art in this scene of Christ entering contemporary Brussels in a Mardi Gras parade. In response to the French po...

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In addition to providing images of artwork, Google Arts & Culture provides many other features. The homepage highlights various articles and videos about a diverse array of topics, with new articles featured every day. Arts & Culture also uses a modified version of Google Street View to provide an interactive walking tour of hundreds of museums, galleries, and cultural sites. For smartphone and tablet users, the app provides augmented reality features, including the ability to project an artwork into the user's field of view, in the original size. Arts & Culture takes an expansive view of what constitutes art, and many videos are available on subjects such as performance art, dance, music, and architecture, among others.

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Google Arts & Culture has a sleek, accessible interface. White is used as the background throughout, with high-contrast text in large fonts to ensure accessibility. The bright use of color and clear enthusiasm for global culture make Arts & Culture a true joy to use. Most features of Arts & Culture are aimed at those who can read English at a Middle or High School level, and some drawings and paintings included in the database feature artistic nudity. As such, in K12 education, Arts & Culture is best reserved for High School students. Additionally, some features require a free Google account.

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Google Arts & Culture can be integrated into High School-level arts classes in a number of ways. My favorite feature of the program is the ability to mark images as Favorites, and the option to sort Favorite images into Galleries. These Galleries can then be shared with others, or kept private for individual use. This feature is excellent for curatorial and research assignments. Students could be instructed to construct a Gallery with images from various artists in a certain style, or to collect artworks made in styles which they wish to incorporate into their own work. Students could also use their Galleries as the basis for presentations or essays on various art history topics.

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Google Arts & Culture can be easily integrated into lessons modeled after Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction:

1. Gain Attention- The homepage provides daily articles on a variety of historical topics and current events in the art world. Students can be encouraged to peruse these for items of interest. Additionally, Arts & Culture suggests recommended images and articles based on past use, further encouraging engagement.

2. Inform Learners of Objectives- A teacher can explain the parameters for research or curation.

3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning- Students can review articles or images that they have curated in their Galleries, to reinforce an understanding of selected movements in art history or material use.

4. Present the Content- The instructor can provide Galleries with images to use as a starting point or example.

5. Provide Learning Guidance- A rubric can be created, as well as a sample Gallery and technological demonstration of how to use the Arts & Culture interface.

6. Elicit Performance/Practice- Students can research artists or mediums and make connections between periods in art history.

7. Provide Feedback- Teachers can view the Galleries of students and provide guidance and advice on research strategies and content. This would need to be done through another medium, as Google Arts & Culture does not provide for comments in the service.

8. Assess Performance- Grading can be done according to rubrics and research quality, though it must be provided in another service.

9. Enhance Retention- Google Arts & Culture provides numerous options for students to discover and curate work on their own. Students can be encouraged to make use of these for their own artistic growth, by allowing them to pursue their own artistic interests in the program.

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I have used Google Arts & Culture since its inception in 2011, and I am quite a fan of the service. When I was a substitute teacher, I made it a point to show Arts & Culture to my High School art students, and to encourage them to make their own profiles and Galleries on the service. Many students enjoyed the breadth of knowledge provided in the service, as it provides articles and videos on a huge variety of topics, from Afghan pottery process videos to articles on the decorative candy-making tradition of Japan. I encourage all artists and art students to utilize this service.