Its a different experience than seeing it in person. However, there are benefits to both. I've seen gigapixel scans of some of the greatest paintings in history that let you zoom in on the tiniest details and see the brush strokes, the texture of the dried paint, the cracks and aging, etc. For some of the same pictures if I saw it in person I'd be a dozen feet or so away from it because its too valuable to let people get close. Entire objects are virtually invisible viewing some paintings in person.
One of the ways that budding artists rapidly improve is by copying the works of master artists as a study. It should be pretty clear how this tool might be useful to them.
>Part of what makes the Louvre or other museums special is being in a beautiful and decorated historically important space.
Architecture is great, but what makes the Louvre special is the caliber of their art collection. Some people will never be able to afford to see it in person. Why not let those people appreciate the art from afar?
Even if a person can afford to go on an expensive vacation, there's a million breathtaking places to visit in the world. One can't visit them all.
My partner does fine art painting (portraits, still life), and has created many a master copy. Many times actually working in a museum every day with all the gear for weeks. (Patrons love this novelty.)
We've ordered many a high quality print selected from online collections for further study.
If many people opt to look at the works online and not in person, the Louvre can reduce the ticket prices without increasing the number of visitors and this would be considered a _success_.
So yes, nothing makes up for the visceral experience of seeing real art and heritage face to face but if you can't get there or are a researcher or school teacher or artist looking at historical techniques or...[insert many other use cases here], online collections play a hugely valuable role.
Plus of course, art like this is often paid for by the state and so the public "owns" it and should get the widest possible access to it.
In any case, it's certainly no substitute for the real thing (but I'm sure everyone kind of understands that).
[1] https://www.britannica.com/topic/philosophy-of-art/The-mediu...
The chatter and humming of people around, by itself was worth going to the museum, seeing how fathers describe the items to their children, and how sophisticated-looking folks talk and such.
It was a magnificent experience that nothing compares to it in the digital world (yet).
So this is an actual thing. Lol.
And yeah Paris has its nice areas but like most cities in the world it's also overcrowded (try the RER A at rush hour - pre corona), dirty, has its dark sides, and is suffering greatly from mass-tourism. Most Parisians I know are not very happy. I go there a lot.
Really I think there's much better places to visit, like Barcelona. Which is suffering from the same flaws but I find it a bit more accessible. But visiting Paris for the first time was not a culture shock for me at all. However I grew up 800km from Paris. I suppose someone from a totally different culture on the other side of the world might have an idealised view. Especially if they paid a relative fortune to visit it.
Still... It sounds a bit overblown :P There's many movies that show Paris quite realistically, I don't think anyone truly interested would not pick up on that.
This is true in theory, in practice you will meet arrogant and unhelpful museum guides, tons upon tons of people not respecting all the basic rules (no flash, be relatively quite, etc) and a labyrinthine place which can give you anxiety if you are just visiting one day and want to see as much as possible. I went there like 8 years ago in very low season I cannot imagine how it would be today in a post-covid summer with all the instagramers and tik-tokers. So in the meantime I would enjoy all those marvels a my leisure pace in my computer. There are million of things we cannot experience directly and they are still worthwhile to see in original or imagined illustrations, from celestial bodies to ancient civilizations.