Dresden Gallery - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

I would love to be an artist. I'm a gardener, but I still dream of being an artist - and I love to look at the works of those so filled with artistry and talent that they can take your breath away. Today, for a reason which is really not important, I was looking on the web for some information about Canaletto. I found a reference to the Dresden Gallery in Second Life - so I went to visit.

With all the time I've spent in Second Life, with all the places I've visited, I can still be blown away by a location/experience. This is a place you should really visit..

From the notecard you receive when you arrive:

Welcome to the Old Masters Picture Gallery (Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister) of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Germany), one of the world's most famous museums!
Here you can visit 750 masterpieces of European art history including such famous works as Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna”, Giorgione’s “Sleeping Venus”, Rembrandt’s “Self-Portrait with Saskia“ and Vermeer’s “Girl Reading a Letter”.
The museum is located in the Zwinger, a magnificent Baroque complex in Dresden. The Old Masters Picture Gallery is in a specially built neo-Renaissance style building on the north side of the Zwinger. It was opened in 1855.
- On the ground plan you can find the most important artists.- Meet other visitors, make new friends and discuss the gallery’s art treasures with other people online. - Take part in art education events. - Find the most important information about each work with one click of the mouse. - Visit the shop, where you can obtain free posters and clothing printed with art motifs. - Guestbook: Record your aesthetic experiences on a Notecard, which will be sent to the guestbook on the home page www.dresdengallery.com. There you can also read about the impressions of other visitors.
The Gallery is powered by SECOND INTEREST AG: http://www.secondinterest.com

What that doesn't tell you - at least not explicitly, is that you are visiting a museum exhibit with all the bells and whistles. If you go into the Canaletto room not only do you see his fabulous paintings, if you click on any of them (or any of the exhibits) you get an informative notecard about the piece. But more than that ........

Because important Canaletto's have recently been cleaned and/or restored - xrays have been taken which show you much about his creative process. And the museum includes them in the exhibit.

There is at least one lecture hall, a shop downstairs, a Friends group which appears to have events.

When you first arrive in the museum there is another notecard - and one of the things it mentions is that you can acquire free headphones which will facilitate an audio tour as you go through the museum.

I don't know if you can tell - but I love this place. I'll be going back again and again. Education isn't just for Cyberloom's students - although I'm thrilled with the work she's doing. It's for me too - and isn't it neat that it's available in SL. :)