A Work of Art by Douglas E. Welch September 7, 1999 © 1999, Douglas E. Welch Just because you don't live in Paris, New York or Washington, DC doesn't mean you can't experience the world's best Fine Art. The Internet has changed the world of art museums and galleries forever. Today, from the comfort of your own home you can up close and personal with the work of some of the most well-known artists in history. Many world-class art museums are finding ways to expand their reach outside of their geographical areas and give everyone from "sea to shining sea" access to their collections. Here is a sampling of a few of the better online museums and exhibits. The Whitney Museum of Art in New York City has developed an online version of the "American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000" exhibit that is currently installed in their physical museum. Part I encompasses the years 1900-1950 and Part II, opening on September 22, 1999 completes the timeline to the present day. This web site requires many web browser plug-ins but uses them all to provide a near?CD-ROM quality presentation. A timeline showing both artistic and historical milestones allows you to experience the exhibit in whatever order you wish, concentrating on your favorite interests. The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC provides online access to a large part of the collection. You can browse through the museum holdings or search for specific artists, paintings or even subjects such as "paintings that contain boats". The NGA also hosts an online version of the wildly popular Van Gogh exhibit that appeared in Washington and Los Angeles. You can experience the exhibit as a virtual tour using a plug-in where you navigate through each room with your mouse. Clicking on a painting brings up a detailed view, further information and, in some cases, an audio clip explaining the significance of the painting. Unlike the Whitney exhibit, a low-bandwidth version is also available for those people with slow modems or older computers. All the Smithsonian museums have some presence on the web including the Museum of American Art , the National Portrait Gallery and the Renwick Gallery,which features American crafts. You can find links to all the Smithsonian museums at www.si.edu International museums are even getting onto the net. The Louvre Museum in Paris, France can be accessed at http://mistral.culture.fr/louvre/louvrea.htm While not connected to the actual Louvre, the Web Louvre is a collection of over 400 art photographs and commentary. The web Louvre was one of the first art sites on the web and it was developed almost entirely with volunteer labor. A simple search in any web search engine can point you to art of every shape, size and genre. Galleries showcase up and coming artists, smaller museums present their collections and individual artists have set up web storefront galleries to promote their own work. Take a few minutes out of your day to browse some of these sites and you will be amazed at both the quality and quantity of art available on the Internet today. While I highly recommend visiting the above museums in person, for those who can't travel to Washington, DC, London or Paris on a whim, the web provides unprecedented access to the world's most beautiful art. Douglas E. Welch is a freelance writer and computer consultant in Van Nuys, California.He also writes Career Opportunities, a weekly column on high-tech careers and A Gardener's Notebook. You can find more of Douglas' writing on his web page at: http://www.welchwrite.com/ He can reached via email at douglas@welchwrite.com