Entering the Imaginary Museum : Comparing André Malraux's Theory of Aesthetics with the Google Arts & Culture online Platform

Abstract

The French art historian, author, and politician André Malraux (1901–1976) wrote about “a museum without walls” – Le Musée imaginaire – decades before the invention of the internet and the virtual space. What Malraux described was a limitless, metaphysical space free from the laws of physics where we would be free to indulge in eternal and timeless art. This imaginary museum comes with Malraux's theory of aesthetics, which shines an alternative light on questions regarding virtual museums, virtual art, and digital art history. The technological development over the last decades has allowed us to experience things previously thought impossible and simultaneously opened up several new research fields. One of these is virtual and augmented reality, which led to the development of the virtual art museum. Although technology is constantly developing, many tech companies have launched successful virtual art museum spaces: Google’s Art and Culture project launched in early 2011. Even though technological advancements allow us to enter and experience art through these virtual limitless spaces there are still very few theoretical tools available to investigate them.

The thesis aims to investigate Malraux’s aesthetic theory with Google Arts & Culture online virtual museums and other features, and determine if any of the theory’s key concepts have come to be realized in the online platform. Using the comparative method, key components of Malraux’s theory of aesthetics are analyzed, allowing similarities and differences to be observed in Google Art & Culture’s software. Further questions of interest include whether the virtual museum deserves a prominent spot in the academic field of Art history and, if so, whether Malraux’s theory could be a useful way to approach this subject.

The Google Arts and Culture software accessed for free at freeartsandculture.google.com was used as a first-hand source for the comparative part of the paper. The essential literature consists of André Malraux’s translated original books, mainly The Voices of Silence (1951). In particular, the first part of the book, entitled “Museum without Walls”, addresses many of the key concepts of this thesis. Another helpful book has been Art and the Human Adventure – André Malraux's Theory of Art (2009) by Derek Allan, being the only published book that summarises and explains Malraux’s theory of aesthetics in depth. Finally, for further knowledge about the historical context of virtual museums, several articles included in Museums in a digital age (2010), edited by Ross Perry, were of great use.

This thesis shows that the virtual museum operated by Google Art & Culture does realize many concepts and ideas of Malraux’s theory of aesthetics, but not all. It furthermore showcases Malraux’s theory of art as an effective means to approach inquiries regarding virtual museums, virtual art, and virtual art history. Finally, Malraux’s theory also helps us give the virtual museum its place within the academic field of art history.