The popularity of the Google Arts & Culture app has exploded overnight thanks to a rather cool new feature. Essentially, you take a selfie, and Google will match you with your lookalike from the artworld. Just don't expect to find your doppelganger in a famous painting from yesteryear.

In 2016, Google released an app designed to let anyone, anywhere explore museums and art galleries. In June 2017, Google brought that information into the mainstream by delivering information about artists and their work through Google Search. Unfortunately, no one cared.

Google Finds Your Doppelganger

Now, Google has updated the Arts & Culture app, adding a new feature which matches you with your lookalike from the art world. And this feature has captured people's imaginations, prompting people with no interest in art and culture to download the Google Arts and Culture app.

You simply take a selfie, upload it to the app, and Google will match your face with the faces of people depicted in artworks. You might not find an exact match in a painting or statue, but most people should be able to find someone who looks slightly like them. Even if it isn't flattering.

This feature blew up over the weekend, and since then social media has been dominated by people posting their matches. This includes celebrities such as Kumail Nanjiani from Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, some people's matches haven't turned out quite as well as Nanjiani's.

On the app's page on the Google Play Store, Google states that this feature is available in "select locations only," and it's actually limited to the U.S. right now. The rest of the world will either have to use a VPN to try this feature or wait until Google rolls it out further afield.

Art and Culture Is Important

In a world where selfies and social media rule, adding a feature such as this is a genius move guaranteed to get people downloading and using the Google Arts & Culture app. I just hope they actually delve a bit deeper and use the app to educate themselves about art while they're at it.

Have you downloaded the Google Arts & Culture app yet? Did the app successfully find your lookalike in a painting? Or did it fail spectacularly? Do you think this is a clever hook to get more people using the Google Arts & Culture app? Please let us know in the comments below!

Image Credit: Anokarina via Flickr