Zoom, explore, and discover Getty art
Irises, 1889, Vincent van Gogh. Oil on canvas, 29 1/4 x 37 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 90.PA.20
What were Victorian women doing when they weren’t going to tea parties or bustling their bustles?
Making photo collages, of course! Radical Whimsy, a Google Art & Culture exhibit, was one of Getty’s most viewed in 2021.
You were also drawn in by ancient Egyptian mummy portraits, and enjoyed exploring contemporary work by Asian American photographers. Below are the top five, so get ready to scroll, and enjoy these online presentations that brought many viewers closer to art while museums were still closed during the pandemic.
Though the flower's most popular depiction at the Getty Museum is in a painting by Van Gogh, irises—of which there are 1,750 species and countless varieties—can be seen across all of our collecting areas, and even pop up in our own gardens. This online exhibit unearths the history and meaning of these dramatic and expressive plants with artworks from our galleries and the flowers found in nature.
Iris Kæmpferi, 1896, Ogawa Kazumasa. Hand-colored collotype, 10 9/16 × 8 1/8 in. Getty Museum, 84.XB.759.6.10
Come face-to-face with the people who lived thousands of years ago. In ancient Egypt, it was customary to mummify the deceased and create a likeness of them. Some of the people had mummy portraits painted on thin wooden panels or linen shrouds that were affixed to their mummy wrappings. Many of these portraits were removed when the mummies were discovered.
Mummy Portrait of a Woman, AD 100, attributed to the Isidora Master. Encaustic on linden wood, gilt, linen, 18 7/8 × 14 3/16 in. Getty Museum, 81.AP.42
Six artists in Getty’s collection reflect on their personal experience of making photographs. Soo Kim, Sze Tsung Nicolás Leong, Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao, Christine Nguyen, Kunié Sugiura, and Hiroshi Watanabe were all asked to share about their work. Together, they explore built environments, cultural heritage, and the natural world.
Midnight Reykjavík #5, negative 2005, print 2007, Soo Kim. Chromogenic print, 39 3/8 × 39 3/8 in. Getty Museum, 2009.86. © Soo Kim
Two late-19th-century photocollage albums provide insights into how Victorian women found a creative outlet in cutting, pasting, and remixing artforms. They played with scale and perspective and made something entirely new, entertaining, and subversive.
Mixed Pickles, from the Westmorland Album, 1864–1874, attributed to Victoria Alexandrina Anderson-Pelham, Countess of Yarborough, or Eva Macdonald. Albumen silver print, 11 1/8 × 8 15/16 in. Getty Museum, 84.XD.1283.30
Walk through the dappled woods with a couple on a romantic stroll. This Google Arts & Culture exhibit looks at the formal elements of the painting: a woman’s white dress against the dark background, the modesty in how she turns her head, the skillful composition that takes your eye across the canvas and further into the trees.
The Promenade, 1870, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Oil on canvas, 32 × 25 1/2 in. Getty Museum, 89.PA.41
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