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We Meme-ify Three Cleveland Museum of Art Pieces

The public now has online access to 30,000 collection artworks to use for research, personal and commercial use.

by Abby Burton | Apr. 12, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art

Courtesy Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is putting masterpieces at your fingertips. In January, CMA announced it’s offering increased access to 30,000 collection artworks. Now, the pieces can be found online, downloaded in high-quality and used for design, research, personal and commercial use. 

“A Young Woman Buying Pink [sic] From A Man,” Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, circa 1740

“We have one of the top encyclopedic collections in the world. Even if people know that, not everyone would have the chance to get here,” says Jane Alexander, CMA’s chief digital information officer. “We want to be an example so more museums will do this and as a world, we can learn more about each other and other cultures.”

“An Elderly Man In Prayer,” follower of Rembrandt  van Rijn, 17th century

Other museums have made collections available online, but CMA is the first to also include additional descriptive texts and metadata, which can be used with the art in books, lectures and more. 

While high art deserves high respect, we went (admittedly) low-brow, crafting three Cleveland memes from the masterworks. 

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