We get a lot of questions from our community about, well, how Meural works. In this three part series, How Meural Works, we’ll give you a window into what our curatorial team does, how we acquire artworks, and how we collaborate with artists. And in the last installment, on March 14th, we’ll be introducing an exciting new aspect of our platform that will bring us even closer to our goal of revolutionizing access to art and supporting artists.

You’re part of something groundbreaking.

With the help of our community, we are fundamentally changing the way people access and enjoy art.

We started Meural with a very simple mission: Democratize art, and make it a part of people’s everyday lives. We saw that the way people were enjoying art was limited by their access to it. Most people can’t go to the Louvre or the Met whenever they want, and besides, museums—the most traditional way of experiencing art—hold only a fraction of the art people wanted to see. So we decided to do something as radical as it was ambitious. We’re creating one destination—a tagged, categorized, and contextualized art library representing the full diversity of global visual culture.

Easier said than done, right? Certainly. It’s no small task, but it’s one we’re built to solve. Not many tech companies have curatorial teams. Alongside engineers, developers, designers, marketers, support staff and the like, Meural has a team dedicated to art. We come with various backgrounds and expertise—auction houses, cultural institutions, galleries, and museums. But what is it, exactly, that we’re curating?

Building a collection as diverse as our community

What is art? A heavy, heady question for sure (with not just a few dormitory hours wasted on it). There are as many answers to this as there are people who have tried to answer it. At Meural, our approach is expansive. Anything our community might want to see on their wall—to us, that’s art. This of course starts with the most renowned names in art—the Van Gogh’s, Vermeer’s, Kandinsky’s, and Kahlo’s—but that accounts for just a sliver of what we offer.

We’re dedicated to acquiring canonical artists but also the unspoken for, the overlooked, and the erased. Art history has been notoriously kind to a certain type of artist—namely, white men who worked in the European tradition. While this has resulted in a lot of important art by, well, white men working in the European tradition, it has also blinded us to many artists with diverse backgrounds. We see no better platform to tell their stories than ours.

Our collection includes some of the earliest recorded art all the way up to art being created today—as in, right this second. We’re proud to commission some of our favorite artists to create work specifically for the Meural Canvas. It also means we feature a breathtaking diversity of mediums, from oil paintings to sculptures, motion art and digital art to prints, art for kids, and more.

At its core, the experience of art is not one feeling or sensation. Everyone experiences it differently. To that end we’re dedicated to finding art that delights, entertains, mesmerizes, provokes, educates, and inspires.

Uncovering the stories behind the canvas

Even though we don’t have an institutional opinion about what is or isn’t art, we still have something (a lot) to say about it.

Of course, some art speaks for itself. You stand in front of it and your eyes get watery and you see life anew. But a lot of art might not speak to you immediately; sometimes it takes context for meaning to unfold. We aim to provide exactly that—not just who painted it and when and where and why and how but what is it that actually makes it unique? Our original editorial—articles, interviews, and in-depth features—makes art even more exciting, meaningful, and inspiring.

With an immense library and the resources to be flexible in our approach, we’re constantly finding new and exciting ways to present art. This might mean showcasing works by color or medium, or reviving an exhibition from 100 years ago. It means finding surprising connections between works and the artists who create them. And above all, it means harnessing the power of technology to continue to innovate, opening doors we’ve yet to even imagine.

Have a question, recommendation, or request? Don’t hesitate! Feel free to send us an email or tag us on social media (@meetmeural) and we’ll get back to you soon.