A group of oil and acrylic paintings from Shetland Museum’s collection of art can now be viewed on the BBC’s Your Paintings website. The 187 paintings range from 18th century portraits of eminent Shetlanders, to 21st century landscapes by contemporary artists.

A team from the BBC site visited Shetland in 2011 to photograph each of the paintings. In the intervening year, Curator Carol Christiansen researched the paintings and artists to provide descriptive and historical details. This information is available on the website, along with a high-quality image of each work, which allows viewers to examine the paintings in detail.

The website is easy to use – visitors can search by place, subject, artist, or artwork. It creates links during searches, making the user aware of works by the same artist held in other institutions. Additionally, the website is interactive, so if the viewer has information about a particular painting, they can let the BBC know, or create their own ‘collection’ from the choice of nearly 200,000 paintings now online.

Twelve other organisations from Shetland participated in the project, and their paintings are also available. Dr. Christiansen said, “It’s fun to explore the website, there are so many amazing images of Shetland. And there are many little-known local artists represented, whose work can now be seen by everyone. Using the website is truly an easy way to become familiar with the art of Shetland”.

To view the collection, visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings. Anyone who would like to see any of Shetland Museum’s paintings in person can contact Dr. Christiansen at carol@shetland-museum.org.uk, or 01595 695075.

The UK holds in its galleries and civic buildings over 200,000 oil paintings spanning 600 years of art history – arguably the greatest national collection of its kind in the world. But a staggering 80% of these works are in storage or held behind closed doors.

Through a joint effort by the BBC, The Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) and a range of partners, the entire collection is now available online for everyone to enjoy – www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings

In February 2013 (from 8th Feb) the BBC will be celebrating Your Paintings with activity across the UK. There will be a series of art projections in cities and towns countrywide, and BBC events allowing the public to get hands on with art.

Source: Shetland Museum & Archives