Explore these incredible galleries in your slippers.
“Social distancing” calls for a virtual exploration of the greatest art and culture the world has to offer. While the quarantine measures may keep you indoors, there’s nothing stopping your mind from stepping into these digital galleries and rediscovering the world through the lens of your favorite artist. Here is an A to Z list of the best virtual tours from top cities around the world. [Featured image Roman Fox via Unsplash]
Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum
Dutch art and history from the Middle Ages onwards are the treats on offer here.
Van Gogh Museum
Take a lesiurely trip through Van Gogh’s greatest works with this online collection.
Berlin
The Alte Nationalgalerie
Berlin’s Museum Island holds plenty of treasures, and this amazing art gallery is one of the crown jewels.
Cape Town
Zeitz MOCAA
One of Africa’s leading repositories of contemporary art, a tour of Zeitz MOCAA should keep you busy for a little while. The maize silo conversion is a mesmerizing bit of architecture.
Dublin
The Library of Trinity College Dublin
We’d give anything for a library like this! Explore their collection of fascinating books at your own pace.
Detroit
Detroit Institute of Arts
Motor City doesn’t skip on the art, as this impressive collection proves.
Edinburgh
Royal Collection Trust
The treasures of royal residences up and down the country are available to view in this online collection.
Florence
Uffizi Gallery
Amongst the world’s most important art galleries, the Uffizi is a must-see for its huge collection of Italian Renaissance art – for now, you can catch it online.
Glasgow
Glasgow Women’s Library
The only UK museum dedicated to the lives, histories, and triumphs of women has to be one for your list.
Houston
The Museum of Fine Arts
Everything is bigger in Texas, and appropriately this place, which spans 6000 years of history, is one of the biggest in the US.
London
British Museum, London
Just couldn’t miss out repping our hometown, could we? Take a whistle stop tour of the world’s treasures from the comfort of your sofa with this British Museum tour.
Madrid
Prado Museum
One of our Madrid colleagues described this place as the reason they moved there, and if there’s higher praise than that, we’re yet to hear it!
Sorolla Musuem
Sorolla manipulated light and shade to brilliant effect, so a quick tour of his masterpieces is definitely on the cards.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
A wonderful virtual trip through their acclaimed Rembrandt exhibit is just one way to enjoy the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.
Mexico City
Frida Kahlo Museum
Unstoppable Frida certainly isn’t going to be deterred by a global pandemic, so here’s the place to catch her works.
National Museum of Anthropology
Breathtaking Aztec artefacts form the backbone of this museum, which explores Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage.
Miami
Art Basel ‘online viewing room’ (Starting March 20, 2020)
Leading galleries from across the world have sent artworks to Miami, and you’ll be able to see them in these online viewing rooms.
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
A stunning waterfront property is best explored on one of Miami’s endless sunny days, but in the meantime there’s a virtual tour you can take.
New York
Guggenheim Museum
The Frank Lloyd Wright design is worth seeing alone, but there’s enough art in here to keep you occupied on an online tour.
MoMa
Thought-provoking modern art is the order of the day here, at one of the most important art galleries in the world.
Oslo
The Munch Museum
Yes, The Scream is a pretty accurate depiction of how we’re all feeling right now…
Paris
Louvre
Icon, stylish, and instantly recognisable, the Louvre is a must for art-lovers – and if you can’t take the trip, an online tour will have to do for now!
Quebec
Mouvement ESSARTS
If you go down to the woods today, you’ll probably be asked to head back indoors. Do it virtually, however, and you’ll see eerie sculptures hidden amongst the trees.
Rio de Janeiro
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
Rio is about way more than just the beaches, as this brilliant art gallery proves!
Seoul
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
Seoul’s foremost modern art gallery also offers YouTube tours in which their curators walk you through intriguing pieces.
São Paulo
MASP
Nothing much to see here, just the finest collection of European art in the Southern Hemisphere.
San Francisco
de Young Museum
Fine art sits amongst the tranquil sights of Golden Gate Park, but virtual tours are nice too!
SF MoMa
Having undergone an expansion in 2016, SF MoMA now has even more for you to explore virtually.
Toronto
Art Gallery of Ontario
90,000 works of art call the Art Gallery of Ontario home, and seeing all of them should kill a bit of time nicely.
Utrecht
Centraal Museum
A fascinating exhibit called The Tears of Eros is just one of the collections you can see here.
Valencia
Ciutat de les Arts i Ciències
Valencia’s stylish park of arts and sciences has plenty to see, and now you don’t even have to leave bed to do it.
Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art
Washington is stuffed full of museums – many of them offering virtual tours – but for our money, this is one of the best.
Xiamen
Art museum of China Profiles
Oil paintings, porcelain, and portraits make for stunning insights into China’s artistic history.
Zürich
Kunsthaus Zürich
Last, but by no means least, comes Kunsthaus Zürich, which houses art from the Middle Ages to the present day.