Getty’s Top 5 Instagram Reels of 2021
From furniture to medieval drinking, these Instagram Reels brought art history and fun facts together
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It’s Wrapping Season.
And now that we all know our favorite Spotify songs, it’s time to look at the Getty Instagram Reels that helped everyone get inspired in 2021. This year, we had the pleasure of answering so many interesting art questions like Why Is It So Dark in the Galleries?, played a rousing game of What’s in the Box? and learned the answer to the question, Can a Building Be a Medical Instrument?
Among all of those art facts and Q&As, these were your top five favorite Getty Reels of 2021.
What Happened to the Art When Getty Was Closed?
It’s a good question, and there are lots of fascinating answers. We battled with bugs, revamped the garden, and took a rare opportunity to take Van Gogh’s Irises off of the wall and out of its frame.
This close-up view of Irises in the conservation lab was Getty’s most popular Instagram reel of 2021. Want to know more about what the Irises got up to? Check out Van Gogh’s Irises: A Closer Look.
How Did People Tell Time at Night?
It’s the question most of you were curious about: if electricity hasn’t been invented and you wake up in the middle of the night, how are you supposed to know what time it is? And we all learned about night clocks and the ingenious ways people used to tell time in the dark.
Why Does Furniture from the Past Look So Small?
If the words “Hey, it’s Amanda with some furniture facts,” ring a bell then you were likely one of the hundreds of thousands of viewers that made this our third most popular reel. And thanks to Getty curator Amanda Berman, excess upholstery no longer plays tricks on our eyes.
Did People Really Drink Beer Instead of Water?
The Venn diagram of Getty Instagram followers and the historically curious is practically a circle. And this reel about real medieval drinking habits was a 2021 favorite.
Why Do the Elephants Look Like That?
The only thing as interesting as a beautiful medieval illumination is an awkwardly drawn one. Our fifth most popular reel took a look at elephants drawn in the Middle Ages and illuminated some of the reasons why it was so difficult to get them right.
We hope you enjoyed all of Getty’s reels in 2021. And if you have any more questions you’d like answered, please tag @gettymuseum on social media.
