Masterpieces that we can see without going to the museum

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There are works of art worth a trip. Or several, if necessary. But while we cannot physically approach the art temples that house them, many of these museums make them available to us on detailed virtual tours. Of course this list could be much longer, but these pieces are emphatic and unquestionable and deserve to be visited again and again. Although, as now, we can only do it from a distance.

With Botticelli in Florence

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is one of the most incredible museums in the world. A space that embarks us on a unique journey through the history of painting. Here reside the best works of artists such as Giotto, Masaccio , Leonardo , Miguel Ángel , Rafael , Tiziano , Caravaggio ... But the place of honor belongs to the Florentine masters, among whom Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) stands out. In the Sala di Botticelli most of the faces are stunned towards his dreamy painting The Birth of Venus.The artist was inspired by classical mythology, which held that Venus, goddess of love and beauty, emerged from the sea already grown. And there it is, in all its exuberant and seductive glory (the long neck is forgiven), reaching the coast on a shell carried by the zephyr winds (symbol of spiritual passions).

To get inspired, we can read a novel set in the Florence of the time of the great Renaissance painters, such as Quattrocento (Planeta), by Susana Fortes, or about Botticelli himself, like The Death of Venus (RBA), by Luis Racionero, inspired in the painter's life and in his two greatest works: The Birth of Venus and Spring . And, of course, you can make a virtual visit to the Uffizi and see the detailed explanation of this painting from the Florentine gallery website.

With Klimt in Vienna

enlarge photo A couple kisses emulating the painting 'The Kiss', by Gustav Klimt, exposed behind their backs in Vienna. DIETER NAGL / AFP GETTY IMAGES

Surely we have all seen countless reproductions of this painting, but the original oil painting by Gustav Klimt in 1908 with gold and tin foil paralyzes the senses : brilliant golden scrolls, geometric shapes of the protagonists ("masculine" rectangles and "feminine spirals ”), Gently brush-stroked hands and, of course, the kiss and the happy fusion of lovers in one. This beautiful painting concentrates the main characteristics of the style that defined all of Klimt's work: erotic charge, rich ornaments and an abundance of metallic tones. Furthermore, one should not forget the museum in which it is housed, as the Schloss Belvedere is considered one of the most beautiful baroque palaces in the world . In other words, a perfect place for the most romantic. When visiting Alto Belvedere , the building that houses the museum and the main of the three that make up the palatial complex, it's hard to miss the elaborate stucco and frescoes adorning its marble lobby, with great views of the gardens of the palace and Vienna itself.

While it is impossible for us to make an appointment with this masterpiece, we will have to settle for an approach to the Europe of the beginning of the 20th century in which the Austrian artist lived through two films: The Golden Lady (2015), with Hellen Mirren as protagonist, on another of Klimt's master paintings: Portrait of Adele Bloch-Baauer I ; and the biographical Klimt (2006), with John Makovich. Both can be seen on Filmin. And, of course, the virtual visit to the Belvedere museum.

A group of tourists photographs 'The Mona Lisa' on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris. ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP GETTY IMAGES

With Leonardo in Paris

The undisputed star of the Louvre The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), retains an unbeatable power of attraction intact 500 years after being portrayed. Perhaps this is why this all-time masterpiece rests protected under a thick wooden structure and bulletproof glass. Rivers of ink have been written on her, but very little is known about this lady with an enigmatic smile. For centuries it was speculated that she could have been in love (or had been a lover) with the portrait artist, but today there is a firm belief that she is Lisa Gherardini , wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giacondo, portrayed by the Italian master between 1503 and 1506 . From the name of her husband comes the name of La Gioconda by which she is also universally known. As for her mysterious smile, the University of Amsterdam carried out a study of this in 2019 to determine, through a computer program that evaluates the emotions of a face, which reflects 83% happiness, 9% disgust, 6% fear and 2% anger.

On The Mona Lisa many copies and interpretations have been made. The best of all, according to experts, we can see in the Prado Museum , which some researchers attribute even to Leonardo himself, although most likely its author was Hans Holbein El Joven or the Spanish Fernando Yáñez de la Almedina . Another mystery.

If we want to contemplate it in detail and understand it in its historical context, we can immerse ourselves in the online visit of the Louvre and, specifically, in the section dedicated to the "most famous painting in the world" . But if we prefer a literary approach, the books on this iconic portrait are a genre in itself. From Leonardo's biographies, written by classics like Giorgio Vasari , Martin Kemp , Sigmund Freud or Paul Valery , to much more current novels and essays such as The Secret of Mona Lisa, by Dolores García (Edhasa), Adios, Mona Lisa , by Roberto Zapperi (Katz) or The Smile of the Mona Lisa , by Luis Racionero (Planeta), among others. Especially recommended, the work Mona Lisa (Criticism) by British historian Donald Sassoon .

Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper', exhibited in Milan. Getty Images

... or dining in Milan

The most famous work of art on display in the city of Milan is Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper , which represents the moment when Jesus utters a lapidary and premonitory phrase to his disciples: "One of you will betray me." The fresco decorates a wall of the Cenacolo Vinciano , the refectory attached to the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie . Da Vinci painted it at the end of the 15th century, and in recent decades it has undergone successive restorations to stop its deterioration. Once we are in front of the painting, the poor reproductions of the painting or the best-selling novels of dubious quality about the artist and his work are reduced to ashes. It is a disturbing encounter .

If we are not lucky enough to have never seen it live, we will have to settle for visiting it on the Internet. And complete the experience by discovering everything that has been written about this enigmatic painting, many of whose readings are completely fantasy or esoteric, so it is necessary to sift a lot. From Javier Sierra's secret dinner (Planeta) to the famous and of dubious historical rigor The Da Vinci Code (Planeta), which made the work fashionable and triggered visits to the Cenacolo in Milan. To put a point of rigor and good sense, nothing better than to immerse ourselves in a good and contrasted biography of Da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci , by Walter Isaacson (Debate).

Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. Jim Zuckerman / Corbis GETTY IMAGES

With Michelangelo in Rome

Although the walls of this chapel, the greatest artistic jewel of the Vatican City , are adorned with works by geniuses such as Botticelli , Ghirlandaio , Pinturicchio and Signorelli , none of them resist the comparison with the amazing frescoes on the ceiling and the front made by Michelangelo (1475-1564): terrified sinners and magnificent prophets who burst forth in their three-dimensional brilliance.

The spectacularly detailed frescoes of Creation on the vaulted ceiling (painted between 1508 and 1512) are considered the high point of Western art . It was followed (24 years later) by the impressive Final Wall Judgment (1536-1541). For four difficult and lonely years this reserved artist painted the 800 square meters of ceiling; 500 years later, the results continue to put goose bumps. The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museums: they also have a virtual tour.

Michelangelo, and particularly his masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel, has also served as inspiration for many novels, almost always with a mystery or conspiracy as the backdrop . We can get into the situation in The Sistine Conspiracy , by Philipp Vandenberg (Planet), or in The Secrets of the Sistine Chapel , by Benjamin Blech and Roy Doliner (Aguilar), which thoroughly analyze this work. For those who prefer the classics: the colossal biography of Michelangelo by Giorgio Vasari (Cliff) and, above all, the essential Agony and Ecstasy, by Irving Stone (Booket), which had its corresponding adaptation to the cinema in The Torment and ecstasy (1965), with a Charlton Heston in the role of the artist and with Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II, focused on the creative process of painting in the Sistine Chapel.

With Munch in Oslo

enlarge photo 'The Scream' (1893), by Edvard Munch. Norwegian National Museum

The stereotype of a tortured artist always accompanies the figure of Edvard Munch (1863-1944) and is quite responsive to the reality of his troubled existence. And The Scream, his most famous work, is a tremendous representation of the Norwegian artist's inner torment and emotional imbalance. By digging into his family environment his life anguish is better understood: his mother and older sister died of tuberculosis, and his younger sister had mental problems from a young age. The history of the painting has been almost as tumultuous as that of the artist, having been stolen with the greatest gall (and recovered) twice since 1994.

The Scream can usually be admired at the Nasjonalgalleriet in Oslo - although there are two other versions of the painting at the city's Munch Museum. Closed by the pandemic, it can now be enjoyed virtually. If we want to get to know the controversial painter better, we can take advantage of confinement to see a film about his life: Edvard Munch (1974).

'The Lunch of the Rowers', by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The Phillips Collection google arts

With Renoir in Washington

No tortured artists: this scene, painted by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1881, oozes life and represents the pure joie de vivre . The work captures the idyllic atmosphere of a tabletop, with friends eating, drinking, smoking and flirting on a terrace facing the Seine, in the restaurant of the Maison Fournaise (in the town of Chatou, on the outskirts of Paris), one of the Renoir's favorite places to spend the weekends.

Normally it can be seen in the Phillips Collection in Washington, but now we will have to settle for seeing it online . From Renoir we can find other masterpieces at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris , along with the rest of the Impressionists, which can be visited virtually thanks to Google's Arts & Culture project . Movie buffs can complete the artist's gaze by watching Renoir's biopic taken to the cinema by Frenchman Gilles Bourdos in 2012. 

A man closely observes Vincent van Gogh's 'The Lilies,' a painting on display at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP GETTY IMAGES

With Van Gogh in Los Angeles

While Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) lived in the Netherlands and Belgium, he painted dark and heavy works, but when he moved to France he got rid of stark social realism and turned to color in the form of flowers, portraits, and wide open spaces . In 1889, after several episodes of self-mutilation and hospitalization, he entered an asylum in Saint-Rémy. There, in his last year of life, he painted almost 130 works, including The Lilies . His brother Teo (art dealer) described it as "a beautiful studio full of air and life". And he would be right, because this canvas is among the most expensive paintings in history. The Getty Center where the exposed painting is located is on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles, and while we can't travel we can visit it virtually.

The good thing about Van Gogh is that we can look into his tormented life at his own hand, through his writings: Letters to Theo (Alliance) gives the keys to his life and his work through a selection of letters he wrote to his brother; and in Letters from Provence (Paidós) his last years of life are recounted in the selection made by Martín Bailey. Also, Irving Stone's Longing to Live is a good novel biography.

With such a difficult and extraordinary life, it is logical that he has also inspired several films: Vincent and Theo (1990), by Robert Altman , Van Gogh (1991), by Maurice Pialat, or the most famous, The Madman with Red Hair (1956 ), a classic by Vicente Minelli . Another option is to see the film Loving Vincent (2017), available on the Filmin and Netflix platforms, which is a Polish production that was the first to generate animations made entirely of paintings, and which addresses the last moments of the life of the painter. The last of all the film versions of his life is Julian Schnabel 's At Eternity's Gate (2018), with Willem Dafoe bringing the artist to life.

'Las meninas', in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Alex Segre ALAMY

With Velázquez in Madrid

To visit the Prado Museum you need to spend a lot of time. Its catalog of first-rate works of art is vast and the simple experience of walking among its rooms is worth it. But if you have to choose a representative work of this institution, perhaps none better than Las Meninas , the painting in which Diego Velázquez painted in a most original way the family of King Felipe IV and himself. It is a complex composition that manages to transmit the sensation of reality, and that at the same time contains infinite meanings. Much has been said about perspective , about the atmosphere , but it is also one of the best portraits that Western painting has left us. As long as we can't see it live again, we can get close to it virtually. And it is a great excuse to visit the magnificent Prado website, whose visits have been catapulted during the pandemic.

Endless biographies of the painter and essays on his time have been written, from those of Francisco Calvo Serraller, Bartolomé Bennasar, Fernando Marías or José Ortega y Gasset , among many others. A good recommendation: Velázquez, his time and ours , a journey through the secrets of the Sevillian genius at the hands of Javier Portús , head of Spanish painting at Pardo and the museum's top specialist on the subject.

One last plan: the documentary in the form of a thriller The painting (2019), interpreted by Eusebio Poncela and delving into the mysteries of Velázquez's work from the hand of different specialists from around the world, was nominated for the Goya 2020.

Visitors in front of Rembrandt's painting 'The Night Watch' at the Rijskmuseum in Amsterdam. ED OUDENAARDEN / AFP GETTY IMAGES

With Rembrandt in Amsterdam

One of the most important paintings in the history of art, and also one of the most complex, is this night tour painted by the Dutch master Rembrandt (1606-1669) in 1642, undoubtedly his most famous painting. For centuries, painting intellectuals have spent many hours identifying their 28 characters (30 before an unfortunate cut, plus three children and a dog). Actually, it has been shown to be a daylight scene: a company of harquebusiers passing from a gloomy courtyard into blinding sunlight. The Dutch genius incorporated in this collective Baroque portrait a lot of novelties that would be fundamental for the future of painting.

It is located in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam , a museum specialized in Dutch art and which has well-implemented virtual tours. If the only thing we want is to investigate all the details of this specific painting, we can do it directly, but it is worth taking a tour of the entire museum from home. And a magnificent book to immerse ourselves in the study of Rembrandt and in his time is Herejes, by Leopoldo Padura (Tusquets).

And if you have wanted to continue exploring artists and museums, the best way to do it is through Google's titanic Arts and Culture project. It encompasses more than 2,500 virtual museums in a tour of 80 countries that represents a somewhat exhausting but exceptional round the world trip.

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