The Prado Museum puts Artificial Intelligence at the service of sharing its Collection. With the help of the Spanish start-up Sherpa.ai, it has developed an algorithm capable of identifying and counting objects and people in a selection of artworks.
With this data in hand, the Museum has launched a project called “Counting the Prado”, which uses numerical anecdotes to continue telling stories to painting enthusiasts and Prado lovers.
Today, the Museum is posting a series of questions on its social media channels that invite the public to count or compare elements in various works, with the sole purpose of encouraging viewers of all ages to look more closely.
Among the selected works are Saint Ursula with the Eleven Thousand Virgins, The Meadow of San Isidro, and The Ommegang in Brussels, among others.
Detalle de Fiestas del Ommegang en Bruselas: procesión de gremios. Denis van Alsloot. 1616. Museo Nacional del Prado
“Counting the Prado” is a project aimed at bringing the Museum’s collection to life in a creative and universal way by identifying details in a selection of artworks where quantity, repetition, or crowding are essential to the subject depicted. Parades, triumphal entries, landings, festivities… can now be admired from a new perspective.
To achieve this, Sherpa.ai has developed an AI system capable of counting different elements—people, horses, paintings, boats, and more—within selected works from the Prado’s permanent collection.
To share the results of this development, the Prado Museum is launching a new social media campaign based on a series of questions focused on counting and comparison, inviting viewers to reflect and engage by sharing their answers.
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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