Crossroads Roundup: AI and the Arts, William Blake’s Cottage, and Monet’s “Nymphéas” Heads to Auction

Our favorite stories on art, archaeology, folklore, and more from this past week.

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As part of the PERCEIVE project, a camera scans Edvard Munch’s The Scream. © MUNCH Museum

Museums find new uses for artificial intelligence (that don’t involve speaking on behalf of the deceased): 

As I think most of us know by now, artificial intelligence is a mixed bag, with potential for plenty of good and evil. I really hate the development of generative “art” platforms, many of which use copyrighted works to train their programs (without first gaining permission from artists or paying them for their labor). But there are ways in which this technology can be used for good—here are two examples that I came across this past week: 

The first is this story on the PERCEIVE project, which received backing from the European Union and involves twelve major institutions (among them: the MUNCH Museum in Oslo, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London). PERCEIVE is a three-year project that aims to use AI for art restoration and preservation through authentic color reconstruction. 

As paint ages, the vibrancy of its pigment fades. PERCEIVE is developing a comprehensive program of AI color matching, which would help institutions restore paintings with scrupulous accuracy. Another area in which this could be useful is for paintings that have been stolen or damaged and require intensive care. Funding for the project expires in about eighteen months, so the hope is that the program will be ready for a wider group of institutions to use by then.