Virtual Art Tour 1/2

Due to the worldwide pandemic, the only way to "visit" art galleries is virtually. It is actually quite amazing how many works of art you can view from the comfort of your home. I chose to view the Uffizi Gallery of Florence, Italy for this project link :https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/uffizi-gallery/1AEhLnfyQCV-DQ?sv_lng=11.2551405&sv_lat=43.7679503&sv_h=-72.56694733863031&sv_p=-2.1305702986631445&sv_pid=b42xmC8f5SIHlsj4VvjZUA&sv_z=1. I am used to seeing a lot of art from the US, so I wanted to explore art that is displayed in others areas of the world. From what I could see throughout the virtual tour, the lighting used to highlight the pieces were natural light coming from unblocked windows, and also artificial white lights above many of the pieces of art. Scanning through the photos, many of the walls that display the pictures ranged anywhere from a neutral cream color to even deep red and bright blue. As you view the pieces of works against the colorful walls, elements from the works are more emphasized against the vibrancy of the wall. The architecture of the building itself uses materials of wooden beams in the sculpture hallway, but it seems as though most of the building is of a painted dry wall with other wooden accents around windows. Glass is used for portions of the gallery for protection of the art work. When viewing this space, in each room the works are at least at eye level, but are sorted up the walls to draw attention upward. The rooms are each set up so you walk in and out of each closed off space as to not distract the eye. The artworks are organized by artist, and you'll find on each wall or section that all the works are of just one artist. For artist who have large and small works, they are put together almost in like a collage and there is a note for that section to describe the pieces. These descriptions are attached to the wall at the bottom of each section so that they are easy to read. The artworks are similar in the style of art and muted tones with some pops of "color". The pieces are different though because some are self-portraits, others are of spiritual scenes, there is even a piece of a man on the cross. The art works are all framed differently, either with elegant gold brushed boarders are simple wooden ones. Like mentioned early, some are just protected by a sheet of glass. The pieces are very close to one another with no more than probably a foot in between each.

It was interesting to analyze the building first before analyzing the art work. You never really pay attention to the structure of the building because the point is to view the art. What was most interesting was how this gallery uses different colored walls while in the US, the walls are usually neutral so that the artwork is the most emphasized thing within the room. How paintings are set up within the galleries is very important as well because having correct lighting is crucial to see the pieces of art.
The set up of the building and the design is very interesting, but it is not as interesting as the art that will be discussed in part 2 of this post.