February has come and gone, and you may not have known it, but this month is actually National Arts Month, and it is very close to coming to an end. But before it does, whether or not you knew it was National Arts Month, why not try exploring these real-life museums and art galleries for free from the comfort of your own home? There are plenty of museums that you can still visit since they offer virtual tours.
Local and foreign museums and art galleries alike have (virtually) opened their doors for free. Here are 15 local and foreign museums and galleries for you to scroll through for a little arts and culture moment at home.
Local
Why not start your art connoisseur journey close to home and take a look at these tatak NoyPi museums and galleries?
CANVAS: Center for Art, New Ventures, & Sustainable Development
A non-profit organization, CANVAS advocates for the use of art to accomplish social change. Currently with 15 online exhibits ready for your perusal. These include exhibits like Karapatan: Artists Stand for Human Rights, Inang Kalikasan’s Bad Hair Day, If Trees Could Talk, Here Be Dragons, and so much more.
Presidential Museum and Library
Inside the walls of Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the Philippine president, is the Presidential Museum and Library. Step into the historical residence of past presidents and look through the two available online exhibits: Malacañang as a Prize, Pulpit, and Stage and Relics of Power: Remembering Philippine Presidents.
The Presidential Museum and Library includes in its collection a copy of President Emilio Aguinaldo’s Acta de la Proclamación de la Independencia del Pueblo Filipino (1960), the desk of Manual L. Quezon (made by Vidal Tampingco, 1937), and a chalkboard containing a sketch of Camp Crame at the time of EDSA Revolution in 1986.
Centering mostly on breathtaking and though provoking photographs, the Filipinas Heritage Library has War Through the Eyes of the Child, Women and War, and Manila Reborn as some of the virtual exhibits available for online patrons.
The Ayala Museum website is jam packed with virtual tours of current, permanent, and even past exhibitions.
The current exhibitions featured by the museum are Intertwined: Transpacific, Transcultural Philippines and Landscape into Painting: Fernando Zobel Serie Blanca.
Created with the aim of providing students, teachers, and all Filipinos with the complete truth behind Martial Law and the EDSA People Power Revolution, the Martial Law Museum is a cornucopia of resources surrounding the Martial Law era—the build up towards it, its fallout, and its lasting effects until this day.
The museum contains more than 300 references with contributions from about 100 experts.
Established in 2019 by John Alexis Balaguer, Balaguer desires Curare “to accommodate most forms of art not solely visual, such as music, video or film, literature, and performance”
This art gallery makes the most out of the virtual space it inhabits by playing around with platforms, mediums, and technology.
Also established in 2019, the Museo de Intramuros is the home of around 500 religious artifacts which were found in churches surrounding and within the Intramuros area. The museum currently offers 10 online exhibitions with more than 200 pieces in its collection.
With the help of the internet, your digital screen can turn into any of the Metro Manila walls within the Filipino Street Art Project. The Filipino Street Project hopes to spread the word about the importance of using street art as an effective means of awareness about varying social issues, without the need of having to leave your home and travel to see them.
Foreign
Done exploring the Philippines’ museums and art galleries but still hankering for more? No worries, now you can go worldwide with your quest to quench your thirst for art. Visa not required!
Make your way through the iconic spiraling staircase of the Guggenheim Museum in New York without the use of a plane. Zoom into the walls of the museum to see work during the Impressionist, Post-impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary eras.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Still in the U.S of A, the National Gallery of Art is currently offering online access to their Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting and Fashioning a Nation exhibits.
Hit up the city of love and fall in love with the From Station to the Renovated Musée d’Orsay virtual exhibit.
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
This museum flexes their Artists in Their Times: Korean Modern and Contemporary Art exhibits which span generations, from the 1900s-1970s and even after the late 1970s. It also sports the Garden and Looking for Another Family exhibits for their virtual patrons, and many more.
Now you can say you visited this museum and talk art with your favorite K-pop or K-drama star, you know, if you ever meet them… at least you’re ready!
Maybe you saw one of the many movies or documentaries about Vincent van Gogh, or maybe you cried to that one Doctor Who episode with van Gogh, this museum may be for you.
With exhibits like Which Books did Vincent van Gogh Read?, Vincent van Gogh’s Love Life, and so much more pieces, touring this museum may make you fall deeper in love with this tragic artist.
A bit of a more niche art gallery, the Uffizi Gallery contains the art collection of famous Florence, Italy residents the de’Medicis. Giorgio Vasari designed the gallery building in 1560 for de’Medici member Cosimo I de’Medici.
Exhibits offered by this lowkey gallery are Peiro di Cosimo, “Perseus Freeing Andromeda”, The Santa Trinita Maestà Cimabue, and Amico revisited. Drawings by Amico Aspertini and other Bolognese Artists.
The Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP) is the first modern museum in Brazil which was founded in 1947. Pieces are suspended in clear Perspex frames, making the art appear to be levitating.
Some of MASP’s current virtual exhibitions include Art in Fashion: MASP’s Rhodia collection, Art from Brazil until 1900, Art from Italy: from Rafael to Titian.
Google Arts and Culture has brought exactly that to millions of people’s home around the world by collaborating with numerous museums and art galleries. Although, not all museums and galleries partnered with Google, but thiss did not stop them from putting some things up on their own websites as well.
Why not soak in all the art and beauty around the world before National Arts Month ends and take in as much beauty as you can?
Other POP! stories you might like:
Hans Christian Andersen museum gets fairy tale makeover
‘Nasa sining ang pag-asa’: A rundown of Filipino artists who continue to inspire us amid tough times
TBA Studios takes part in Yuchengco Museum’s inaugural online film festival