If you're like most people who have the urge to take a peek at art in famed museums such as the Met in New York or the Louvre in Paris, but have no time (or the means) to jet off on a cultural odyssey, virtual art galleries are starting to break these barriers in the art world.

Today, hundreds of art galleries are making famous works of art accessible on the internet. Some works are displayed online in a way that gives the would-be viewer a chance to sample the collection of a museum in much the same way as if they would if they were actually there, sans the curators. Ordered by artist, era and medium, it is art-viewing made easy without the ever-present pushing crowd at the museum, or the snobby glances some art connoisseurs may throw your way.

In the wake of our dot-com dependency, some world-famous art havens now have virtual galleries up on the web, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Here are some art collections you may want to browse through online:

1. "The Model as Muse: Embodying the fashion model" at the Met

Those who prefer contemporary works over historical art will enjoy The Metropolitan Museum of Art's "The Model as Muse: Embodying the fashion model." Running until the August 9, this unlikely exhibition in an art museum focuses on the relationship between fashion and how the perception of beauty has changed over time.

The viewer will be privy to fashion icons through glamour photography between 1947 to 1997. Also included online are curatorial and designer interview videos. Fifty years of the history of the perception of popular beauty have been neatly arranged for those not planning to go to New York anytime soon.