Tabs or Tab-bies: Meow Met app is where cats, art and technology meet

There are apps that are useful. There are apps that are fun. And then there are apps that simply make your life a tad more enjoyable. Or maybe even more than a tad.

Meow Met

One such app is Google Chrome extension Meow Met. Developed by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Media Lab, the  concept is quite simple: when you open up a new tab in Chrome, instead of seeing this:

Boring old Google Chrome

You see something like this:

Girl with a Kitten by Jules Pascin from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

Or this:

Japanese Cat and Kittens sculpture from from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

Each time you open up a new tab, a cat-themed piece of artwork from the Met’s extensive collection appears on your screen.

Kind of matches the kitties on your keyboard. Or your desk.

Elsa Clair and Dawn hard at work.

Cat Distraction

As if cats online and on a lap aren’t distracting enough, there seem to be endless works of art featuring felines. Open up a tab, and there’s a study of a cat sleeping.

Study of a Sleeping Cat attributed to Jan Miel from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

Open up another and there’s a photo of a cat by Walker Evans.

12 Portraits of a Cat by Walker Evans from the Meow Met Chrome Extension.

Cats provide inspiration for artists of all stripes — from unattributed works to those by the great masters, like Rembrandt.

Virgin and Child with a cat by Rembrandt from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

There are cats depicted as gods, refined and majestic…

Cat Statuette / Macedonian-Ptolemaic Period from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

…and as more approachable creatures, caught in the act of being cats.

Cats by Edouard Manet from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

There are helpful cats…

Girl Making a Garland by Hans Suss von Kulmbach from Meow Met Chrome Extension. (The garland says “I bind with forget-me-knots.” She’s probably promising to bind her heart to a young man who is depicted on the reverse of the painting.)

…and curious cats.

Cat and Butterfly by Xu Gu from Meow Met Chrome Extension.

But wait, there’s more!

Click on the name of the work and you can learn more about the art and the artist from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s like an art history course, with cats.

A Domestic Scene by Annibale Carracci, explained on a page from the Met’s website.

Cats + Art + Technology

There’s nothing better than finding something in the world that combines so many of the things I love in one place: cats, and art, and technology.

My only issue with the way the extension works is that sometimes the art is inelegantly cropped; this is easily fixed by resizing the browser window.

Which is worth it.

Because cats.

How to Get Meow Met

Want the extension for your computer? It’s easy enough to get the extension at the Chrome Web store. One click and your browser will be offering up tab-bies!

No need to purr-chase. The extension is free!

Do you think pets are worthy subjects for artists? Would your pet make a good model?

You may also like:

• The Dog Show: Art of Our Canine Companions
• Photo: Cat Imitating Art
• Photo: Cat in the Style of Rene Magritte
• Cat Art: Calvin by BZTAT
• Artify Your Cat
• Huge Hydrant for Hounds: Sculpture on Wildwood NJ Dog Beach

Related posts:

Fat Cat Art: All Masterpieces Should Include a Cat, and Now They Do Pet Technology: Whether You Like Dogs or Cats, There’s a Weather App for You The Dog Show: Art of our Canine Companions Cat Art: Portrait of a Cat Called Dawn, by Thomas Clausen