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Five spooky filters to try this Halloween

Painting by Pieter van Laer

Think you know Halloween? 🎃 Google Arts & Culture is embracing spooky season with the release of our Spotlight on Halloween — a selection of the creepiest, most disturbing art exhibits created by our partners, ready to instill fear in even the bravest of souls.

From terrifying filters to macabre artworks, here are some of the things you’ll be able to play around with:

🤡 Who will you be for Halloween? 💀

Ever thought of becoming a clown for the night? How about entering the body of a wretched monk by Goya? Have a go with our new Halloween Art Filters in the Google Arts & Culture app. Thanks to our partners making their art collections available online, we’ve been able to create five new 3D augmented reality filters based on iconic paintings. The filters allow you to explore the artifacts in detail, as well as giving you some history and context before you try them on.

🧙‍ Characters to give you a fright 👹

See if you can identify witches from history and myth or try and imagine how you might feel meeting an Acromantula in the flesh via Jim Kay’s image of Aragog from Harry Potter. Not scared enough? Zoom in into Joos van Craesbeeck's painting of Saint Anthony or take a tour of Goya’s painting of Witches' Sabbath to meet the devil.

🏚 Spooky and haunted places 👻

In the mood for a ghostly encounter? Check out England's Haunted Castles, discover the vampiric history behind Alnwick Castle or uncover a tale of desire, betrayal and suicide that haunts the medieval ruins of Ludlow Castle. Wander through the Iowa house that inspired American Gothic or visit the Abbey in the Oakwood, where bare oaks reach up to the sky in complaint. Travel to Jordan, India or Ireland to explore places that have a certain...energy or visit a few museums in the dark to find a scary surprise.

🍭 Treats to die for 🍬

It’s time to carve a pumpkin or two and stock up on candy, from the sweet tastes of higashi (Japanese sweets) to mouth watering Mexican candy, from these outstanding desserts prepared by Spanish chefs to Alfajores, a type of sandwich cookie and one of Argentina’s most popular sweet treats.

  • Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Princess Takiyasha summons a skeleton spectre to frighten Mitsukuni, a triptych of color woodblock prints, 1844

    Princess Takiyasha Summons a Skeleton Spectre to Frighten Mitsukuni' by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

  • Abbey among Oak Trees - David Friedrich, 1809-10

    Abbey among Oak Trees is the companion piece to Monk by the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich. Bare oaks reach up into the sky as though in complaint.

  • Selection of candies from Puebla, Mexico

    The platter contains a variety of sweets such as yemitas (egg yolk sweets), macaroons, cocaditas (sweet coconut candies), bocadillos de nuez (walnut bites) and tortitas de Santa Clara (Santa Clara cookies).

  • Death among dualities - Hector Bayona Acosta, 2007

    Since pre-Hispanic times in Mexico, indigenous people have worshiped death and seen it as a duality of life; part of the cycle of nature. Work titled Death among dualities by

    Hector Bayona Acosta.

  • Death is Everywhere - Morteza Modaiemzadeh, 2015

    Morteza Modaiemzadeh from Iran took part with this poster, which presents death as something as ordinary as a bowl of popcorn.

  • Scene of Three Witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth -  George Cattermole, 1840

    Scene of Three Witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth by George Cattermole.

Start your journey on Google Arts & Culture Halloween page or open Google Arts & Culture app for Android or iOS and tap on the rainbow camera icon at the bottom of the homepage.

Share your scary photos and videos using the hashtag #ArtFilter.

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