Some artists paint directly from their imaginations, but many work from real life references. Scroll to compare and contrast artistic works with the locations which inspired them.
This illustrious château, a few hours southwest of Paris, was illustrated by an unknown artist in the 19th century, but its history extends even farther into the past. Built in 1471, the manor has had a number of notable residents, including Leonardo da Vinci.
Clos Lucé has changed hands many times since its construction, but today, it's open as a museum and you can learn about the life and work of da Vinci.
The home of beloved English poet William Wordsworth, Dove Cottage was originally built as a pub in the early 1600s. Several of Wordsworth's most celebrated poems were penned right here in this modest cottage.
Today, the cottage is open to visitors and you can see its famous garden. Click to explore the area using Street View.
Van Gogh's final months were spent in Auvers, France where he was extremely prolific with his artwork. This oil painting of the town church is exemplary of his work at the time. This piece, done in 1890, is hanging at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
As you can see, the church has been wonderfully preserved in the time since. Swipe back and forth to compare the painting with the real thing, then look around with Street View.
French painter Alfred Philippe Roll created this nighttime scene of author Victor Hugo's funeral, backdropped by the magnificent Parisian monument at the end of the Champs-Élysées.
Completed in the 1830s, the monument still stands triumphantly today. Tourists can explore in person or using Street View. You can even paint the scene!
English artist Charles W. Bartlett traveled extensively, creating prints and paintings of beautiful locations all around the globe. This print of the Taj Mahal was created with Japanese shin-hanga woodblock printmaker Shōzaburō Watanabe in 1916.
The real Taj Mahal, commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1632, is a gorgeous mausoleum in Agra, India. It remains one of the most prized architectural and artistic achievements in the world.
American artist Georgia O'Keeffe painted this serene view of the misty Peruvian mountains in 1957. This ethereal piece is on display at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In actuality, Machu Picchu is much more than hazy hilltops. It is a mountain citadel built by the Inca in the 1400s. Use Street View to discover the breathtaking Peruvian vistas!
Is there anything stranger than human curiosity? The desire to discover and learn can drive us to build some of the weirdest and most wonderful collections of… well, anything. So, to fulfil your own appetite for adventure, here's a list of the world's strangest museums.
No, this isn't actually a small square in the backstreets of 1950s Tokyo, it's the Shin-Yokohama Rāmen Museum! With a rather liberal interpretation of 'museum', the building is home to several branches of famous ramen restaurants from Kyushu to Hokkaido.
Where else, but Minnesota? It turns out the title of 'World's Largest Twine Ball' is a touchy subject. But Darwin, Minnesota, is the site of the The World's Largest Twine Ball Museum, featuring… the world's largest twine ball made by a single person.
Some stories end in happiness, others end at the Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb, Croatia. This unique collection draws together the objects left behind when the romance ends: pairs of shoes, unopened bottles of wine, even lint from an ex-boyfriend's belly button.
We can only hope that your underwear doesn't end up here…
Click and drag to explore.
Satisfy your morbid curiosity here in Amsterdam. For most of history, people have beheaded and bludgeoned each other in the name of justice. Trivial crimes from witchcraft to regicide were met with brutal, bodily punishment. And here you can experience it all!
Welcome to the International Clown Hall of Fame & Research Centre in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It might not look it, but it's a serious organisation, and home to all sorts of clowning memorabilia. So stop clowning around.
Scully, did you ever hear the one about the International UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico? The museum focuses on the famous 1947 close encounter in the nearby desert, but also features an extensive library and exhibits all focused on the history of UFO encounters.
Take me to your curator...
Over on the east coast, the cryptozoology museum in Portland, Maine collects rare, one-of-a-kind zoological specimens as well as reports of cryptid sightings and folk stories of strange creatures.
In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, the Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers holds more than 20,000 examples of these essential items of tableware. The collection was started in 1985 by archaeologist Andrea Ludden, as a record of the wealth of creativity to be found in these simple objects.
At Leeds Castle near Maidstone, Kent, there's an utterly singular museum dedicated to dog collars. The collection was originally donated in 1977 by Mr John & Mrs Gertrude Hunt, since then, more examples, dating from the 16th-19th century, have been collared by the museum.
What is it about the English that encourages them to become such avid, eccentric collectors? In Southport, in the back of a DIY shop, you can visit the nation's foremost museum of gardening equipment.
You're only a few short steps away from entering the fascinating, high-adrenaline world of lawnmower racing, or perhaps you're keen on lawnmowers of the rich and famous? And visit the world of tomorrow; the first solar-powered robot mower!
It wasn't actually a painting that Monet deemed his ‘greatest work of art’ but the beautiful gardens he created at his home in Giverny. In his later years, it became his sole subject.
The bridge, which Monet designed himself, shows the influence of Japanese art on his work. This is one of 18 canvases of this view in differing light conditions that Monet started in the summer of 1899, the same year he started painting Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges.
The late afternoon sun casts a shaft of light over the bridge, illuminating the right-hand side in pale green in contrast to the prevailing darker blue-green.
The bold line of the bridge and the longer brushstrokes of the reeds provide a contrast to the small daubs of colour of the water lilies.
Monet’s water lilies were a hybrid breed in pink and yellow as well as white.
The undersides of the water lilies were dark red, the same colour in which Monet signed the painting. Red is on the other side of the colour wheel to the green that dominates the painting; this contrast was in keeping with Monet's interest in complementary colours.
Among the mass of water lilies, you can also see the reflection of the willow trees on the surface of the pond.