No need any longer to be part of that bizarre scrum waiting for a chance to take a picture of people taking a picture of Mona Lisa. No need to face away to take a selfie with Mona, either, or of the others taking selfies. The Louvre has made its entire collection available on-line.
And that’s all: over 482,000 works owned by the museum, including those on display, in storage, on loan to other museums, all the MNR works (art recovered after World War II and held by the Louvre until rightful owners are found) as well as sculptures in the Tuileries and Carrousel Gardens and the collections of the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix.
According to the museum’s head, Jean-Luc Martinez, the Louvre is “dusting off its treasures, even the least-known… For the first time, anyone can access the entire collection of works from a computer or smartphone for free, whether they are on display in the museum, on loan, even long-term, or in storage.
“The Louvre’s stunning cultural heritage is all now just a click away. I am sure that this digital content is going to further inspire people to come to the Louvre to discover the collections in person.”
