--- title: Celebrities Share Google Art App Selfie Portrait Lookalikes description: According to Google's Arts and Culture app, Kristen Bell resembles an old man with a mustache. canonical: https://time.com/5105785/celebrity-google-art-selfies/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-17T18:25:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:22.468Z og:title: Celebrities Have Been Playing With The Google Art App, Too og:description: Google's Arts & Culture app says Kristen Bell is an old man with a mustache og:url: https://time.com/5105785/celebrity-google-art-selfies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Celebrities Have Been Playing With The Google Art App, Too twitter:description: Google's Arts & Culture app says Kristen Bell is an old man with a mustache twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Celebrities Can't Stop Playing With the Google Art Lookalike Selfie App Either > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0a88d562-557b-4949-b0fe-50a824806d9f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Daily | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Richard Hall, Editor | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The informed consumer. A scaled audience of readers who turn to TIME to stay informed and make sense of the world, with meaningful reach across education and research, nonprofits and civic life, media and communications, government and public institutions, and business and professional services. ### TIME The Brief: key statements * The Brief is edited by TIME journalists. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Google's Newest Feature Is Great For Art Lovers [Watch (HLS stream): Google's Newest Feature Is Great For Art Lovers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XR6K8ctW.m3u8) (1:11)  _Published 2017-05-31. An update rolling out Wednesday will allow Street View museum-goers to read annotations about paintings, zoom in on high-resolution images, and more._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 17, 2018 6:25 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 17, 2018 6:25 PM UTC If you have been wondering who [Kristen Bell](http://time.com/4937240/kristen-bell-irma-on-kimmel/?iid=sr-link4) should play next, according to [Google’s Arts](http://techland.time.com/2011/02/01/google-art-project-launches-why-its-amazing/?iid=sr-link1) and Culture app, it’s German-born conductor, August Manns. _The Good Place_ star snapped a selfie with the Google app and it decided she had a 32% match to a John Pettie portrait of a mustachioed old man and the resemblance is truly remarkable. To play along, simply download the Google Arts & Culture app from either Google Play or the iTunes store. Once the app is installed, scroll until you see the “Is your portrait in a museum?” game. Click on it, snap a selfie (a.k.a. launch the facial recognition software) and it will surf through it’s massive database until it attempts to find your historical dead ringer, along with the exact percentage of how alike the two images are. [Kristen Bell](http://time.com/4639276/kristen-bell-teleprompter-fail/?iid=sr-link7) noted in her Instagram post that the results are dead on, which you can see in how the app told Kate Hudson she looks like Pierpont Limner’s “Portrait of a Boy”, Ryan Seacrest got a bearded Tintoretto portrait, Sarah Silverman’s “uncanny” celeb lookalike, and Minnie Driver’s eerie resemblance to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”. While the app made some hilarious comparisons, occasionally it was able to track down celebrities artistic doppelgangers. See the museum results for Rachel Bilson, Kumail Nanjiani, Debra Messing, Constance Wu, and Zach Braff for yourself. > [](https://twitter.com/kumailn/status/952329304259489793) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Street View images are cross referenced with data obtained from partner museums. Google is also adding a panel with helpful art- related information in search results. 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