Scrolling a Masterpiece

Imagine Vincent Van Gogh pulling out his iPhone to watch Loving Vincent on Netflix. Movies didn't exist during Van Gogh's lifetime and phones barely existed. The only streaming Van Gogh did was rafting down a river.

 Van Gogh couldn't have imagined an animated film in his artistic style nominated for an Academy Award. The adoption of new technologies has led to new art viewing experiences the original artist could never have anticipated.

Not long ago, I found myself mindlessly scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed. My feed contains a number of art-related pages, so it's not uncommon for paintings to zoom by between cat and Minions memes.

On this occasion, a painting slowly rolled by with a blue sky background and white moon floating in clouds. Nebulous brown shapes surrounded the skyline. Rene Magritte's A Friend of Order immediately came to mind. 
And from the waist down?

 But as the full painting came into view, I realized I was mistaken. The image was Georgia O'Keeffe's New York Street with Moon:
My kingdom for a window.
I saw a brand new perspective on a 90-year old painting. I doubt anyone looking at the painting in a gallery ever noticed how Magritte-y the top third looks. The Magritte-ification is unmistakable on a Facebook scroll.

I've included a copy of another O'Keeffe artwork below, so you, the reader, can experience the same high-tech scrolly experience I enjoyed.

Take a slow scroll through the O’Keeffe painting, New York Street No 1. Seeing the top of the painting scrolling to the bottom, doesn’t it look a lot like a man’s jacket, and the skyline his dress shirt? The two round half-circles on the left side of the right building look like button holes, and the building on the left looks like a pocket with a pen sticking out:

Dapper in Brown

Simply scrolling the mouse wheel can lead to brand new, never before imagined, exciting interpretations of art. Imagine the next wave of new experiences technology will bring.



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