Museums over the world – paintings collections online

When will you release it...? I cant wait!

Which museum collections are expected to be added soon, besides the Louvres? Could we see the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, or the Old Pinakothek in Munich being added in the near future? It would be great to see collections of paintings from these museums on the website. Please provide an update on the progress being made in this area.

lois976 invites you to the forum:

Im sorry, Id like to clarify something. Will the Louvre album be fully published before July 20th, or will its publication only begin on July 20th, or will it be completely published on July 20th?

There will be a slight delay, and the publication will be postponed to July 26th.

Its a shame... We cant wait to see everything, please try to release it as soon as possible. Im so eager to see the collection that Ive got a real itch to see it!

Maybe you could start posting it in parts.

Is there a collection of reproductions from the Russian Museum available anywhere? It would be great to see it featured on the pages of this website. Thank you in advance.

In my opinion, Im not the only one who thinks it would be a good idea to include images of paintings from the Tretyakov Gallery here as well.

In 2014, there will be updates regarding museums, and well announce the specific plans shortly.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Where is the promised announcement? Two weeks have already passed. We are waiting for it.

We are preparing Berlin museums for something, but which ones and in what quantities is not yet clear. Therefore, there is no announcement yet because we dont have a precise understanding of the details. The publication is tentatively scheduled for this summer.

I hope the updates will be of good quality and that the files will not contain any deliberate damage.

There have never been any intentional damages so far. Although, I am often asked to add watermarks.

Unfortunately, the initially high-quality images have suffered from some artifacts and are partially blurred, and they have also been reduced in size.
However, I would like to point out that while not perfect, many of the Louvre images are quite good quality. Keep up the good work and best of luck.

Its interesting why the website logo needed to be placed on the reproductions. I dont think it was necessary. I suggest reconsidering this decision.

When I viewed the Louvre, there were no watermarks or logos.
In fact, all these actions aimed at supposedly complying with copyright laws completely devalue the images on this website. Such images are simply not interesting.
I would advise the website creators to focus on the fact that, in Russia and most countries, if 70 years have passed since the authors death, then digital copies and photocopies of objects, in this case reproductions of two-dimensional works of art, are in the public domain and can be freely used by anyone without paying any royalties.

I agree with lois976. If the website creators dont intend to sell high-resolution files, theres no point in placing a logo on the images. It would look ridiculous to have a logo on the Mona Lisa.

Applying a logo, of course, will be inconvenient for printers, but it will allow us to include more high-resolution images on the website. Ordinary visitors generally dont notice watermarks (verified). The logo is only applied to high-resolution files suitable for printing, which represents less than 8% of all content. In some albums, watermarks are disabled, in others they are not yet enabled, but we will disable them where they are not needed. Applying watermarks has nothing to do with copyrights or commercial plans; it is a result of agreements with the content providers.

And specifically for Socol (although this is irrelevant): the word two-dimensional only appears in US legislation in this context. The laws of most European countries (especially Germany, where our servers are located) support the protection of copyright for electronic collections. A museum collection in the form of files is an example of such a collection. And European museums sell high-resolution images (both independently and through stock agencies, for example, RMN). Furthermore, I hope you will follow the emerging interdependencies and understand where things are coming from.

Whats the point of displaying reproductions in high resolution if people cant actually use them? For an average person just wanting to get acquainted with a museums collection, even a small image is enough. I, for example, want to have a copy of some world masterpiece at home; why would I need any kind of logo on it? Dont you think that the popularity of your website might significantly decrease after such a step? Whats the purpose of doing all this work then? Lets bring art to the masses!

Yes, I forgot to mention this, just in case. Im not a printer or a professional in that field, but rather an ordinary person with a passion for world art and culture.

We dont think that showing albums with high resolution and watermarks to ordinary people is a good idea. The result is predictable: 90% of respondents didnt even notice their presence. Everyone has a different understanding of the word use. For most people, the goal is simply to admire the images, and a microscopic, semi-transparent logo placed at the edge doesnt create any problems for that, as we have verified.

In this case, theres no point in arguing.
It seems to me that its very simple: people are interested not only in images of large sizes but also in high-quality ones. If you dont have the ability to upload such images on your website, then indeed create smaller pictures for browsing museum collections. But why mention excellent quality in the announcement and then deliberately ruin the files with watermarks and logos? Thats whats frustrating. Everything should be honest.

lois976, socol – I think youre contradicting yourselves. Doesnt the quality of an image decrease when a small logo is added? And isnt it better to study an artists work or view a museum collection in high quality, even with watermarks, than to look at 1000-pixel thumbnails? In any case, I wouldnt blame the website administrators for the small watermarks; there might be reasons for that.

Remove your logo from the images! Its ruining everything!!! Your website uses reproductions from museum pages, so whats the point of adding watermarks? Or are you going to argue that you re-process the images before posting them? Well, in that case, youre just distorting the colors of the paintings to please the public.

Valery, we really hope you can find something useful for yourself among the 92% of images that are uploaded without watermarks. And those with watermarks, you can always download from the "museum websites." Future uploads will mostly be with watermarks, and many of the images already on the site will likely have their watermarks removed, as they arent really needed everywhere. As a quick measure, we initially enabled them everywhere, but now we can calmly figure out where they are actually necessary.

I want to respond to koschey. When I talk about quality, I primarily mean something beyond just the logo, although the logos themselves arent great either. The issue is that images were deliberately degraded, for example, those of the Vienna Museum and Versailles. The Vienna photos initially looked good, but the Versailles image was immediately flawed. If you look at them in full size, you can see the blurriness, as if a layer has been removed in places. By the way, the announcement for Versailles claimed excellent quality. However, defs claims that 90% of people dont notice this. Perhaps they are blind or indifferent.

Maybe our discussion will help make this site interesting again. I didnt want to offend anyone.

Watermarks are unnecessary everywhere! Can someone explain to me, maybe I really dont understand something, whats the point of marking reproductions with a logo???

Valery, just read all the comments on this page to the end. (Theres an arrow below them - more comments.)

Dear Defs, I have been downloading reproductions from your website solely for the purpose of printing them on paper. I am personally very disappointed with your recent change.

The logo doesnt bother me. If you want to print it, you can crop it. In very expensive albums, reproductions are often ruthlessly cropped. On the other hand, the Prado Museum has removed watermarks.

Well, if we can cut it, then whats the point of even talking about it?

In my opinion, the main purpose of galleryx.ru was that it provided access to high-quality images of paintings from the collections of major museums. Adding logos to reproductions completely undermines the purpose of this endeavor. Imagine visiting the Louvre and seeing additional text on the masterpieces that detracts from their meaning! For goodness sake, please remove the logos from the paintings!!!

Socol said that Vienna would return. Indeed, the worst files had to be uploaded there.

Hi! Thanks for your message. Could you please provide more details about the Vienna Museum?
Will there be new images? Im interested in portraits of rulers. But please, without any loss of quality. Thats the most important thing. Good luck!

Can I purchase your galleries on a disk?

Svetlana, currently there isnt one, but who knows what the future holds. And why would there be?

Heres the translation:

Answering the question of why I need a disk: I essentially live in the woods, and only cable internet provides a decent connection. I access the internet from a public library in Zelenogorsk. A disk would solve all my (personal) problems.

Currently: Berlin museums are operational, but there is a delay in the schedule; summer has been challenging. The first module is almost complete.

We are starting to update the attribution for museums outside of museum-specific albums. This will be displayed on this page once we have at least several thousand images with standardized museum identifiers (currently, there are only 700). We will categorize them by country and city, creating a reverse search feature that allows users to see what museums are located in each city.

By country and city – it was high time to do it this way.

The Uffizi Gallery, and only 85 paintings? Maybe there will be more later? Or perhaps Italy isnt very keen on cooperating with Russia, at least in this area.

Svetlana, it will be later, of course. This is a very old album.

When will it happen? In 5 to 10 years? Im afraid I wont live that long.

As much as possible. We are currently changing our approach to creating museum albums. We hope this will have a positive impact on that section.

Its interesting to know what we will be able to see in the near future.

Currently, all updates are being added to the artists albums, but all new content now includes information about the museum where the painting is located. The middle of this page lists the museums in the database, although there are currently no links. This is a work in progress, and each museum will eventually have its own page where you can see which paintings have been tagged as belonging to that museum. We plan to create targeted collections for the Uffizi Gallery and some American museums, but this wont happen until at least summer. Before that, we need to update several popular artists. All of these updates will appear on the websites main page, replacing the old albums (which are outdated in terms of information completeness, file quality, and album presentation).

On this page, you will only find links to museums whose collections are relatively complete.

Thank you for the detailed response.
Of course, larger collections focused on museums are more interesting than those focusing on individual artists.
What about paintings where the artist is unknown? For example, with old portraits, most paintings are either attributed to an Unknown master or are sometimes attributed to a specific artist.
Perhaps you could create a collection of paintings by unknown artists.
In any case, thank you for your work and good luck!
P. S. Are you planning to update (add to) the Cranach album?

Ufficio will likely not be able to move forward until the end of 2015 at the earliest; the crisis is preventing us from doing so.

The launch of a new museum on your website is exciting news. Im eagerly anticipating the Uffizi. Its also great that you update the artist pages, including paintings in churches and private collections. A page with featured masterpieces would be wonderful; it would save time searching for them. Thank you!

The Pinacoteca di Brera is expected to open in November.

My suggestion regarding the promised Uffizi album is that it would be great to include the Pitti Palace (Palatine Gallery) as well. And if possible, please include as many portraits of the Medici family and other rulers as possible. Good luck!

Will a collection of paintings from the Tretyakov Gallery be uploaded?

Gradually, the GTT is being assembled.

The National Gallery in Prague has a vast collection of valuable paintings. Im looking forward to visiting the Tretyakov Gallery and highly recommend the Russian Museum (Saint Petersburg).

Its wonderful that Italian museums like the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Uffizi Gallery will be represented. I would also love to see the Capitoline Museums, Borghese Gallery, Corsini Museum, or others featured.

February has passed. We are looking forward to the Borghese collection.

Buenos Aires was mistakenly included in Brazil.

chevchenka, thank you, I have corrected it.

The Vatican Museums are nearing completion, with readiness expected by the end of the month.

Thank you for the Vatican Pinacoteca. But where did the frescoes go?

Everything is found. Sorry.

Hello! I would like to ask why there are no Russian museums listed on your website, except for the Hermitage. Where is the Tretyakov Gallery? Where is the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin? Is there any chance that they will be added to your site in the future?

On this page, slightly to the left in the list, click on the word Russia.

Dear Gallerix!
Im writing to you because I noticed the word muzitsiruyushchie (which seems to be a variant of muzitsiruyuschie) is used in many of your image captions. Perhaps Im missing something in my local region, but previously this word was spelled as muzitsiruyuschie.
Sincerely, Nikolai.

Thank you, Nikolai. We will inform the translator about the error.

Hello Galerix. Can I ask a question? For example, do you update your albums over time? If you find a new Repin painting, for instance, would that painting be placed at the beginning or end of the album so that users know which painting has been added? Thank you for your response.

Dauron, the sorting in albums is mainly based on popularity, with the most popular items appearing first. Thats why new files usually end up at the bottom of the list.

World Museum, where are the Chinese ink paintings? Where is the art from China?

Excellent website. But Im surprised that there isnt any Peruvian museum listed, considering the amount of art there is in Peru.