November 29th, 2008

Google is celebrating the 110th birthday of artist Rene Magritte by incorporating some of Magritte’s masterpieces together into one Google logo. Ever so often, Google does a “doodle,” a decoration they add to their logo for fun. Over the years doodles have become one of the most beloved parts of Google.

This is the first time that Google has done a doodle for Magritte, but they have done others for artists such as Marc Chagall, Leonardo DaVinci, Pablo Picasso, Diego Velazquez, and Andy Warhol, along with doodles for holidays, past-times, and newsworthy events.

Google doodles started out as the creations of 30-year-old Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang, but they have now grown and are developed by a team of artists. Dennis Hwang designed his first logo for Google in honor of Bastille Day, July 14, 2000, at the request of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and has been designing the specialty logos ever since. Since Dennis began celebrating and marking worldwide events and holidays with his doodles in 2000, his work has been seen by millions and reached cult status, with fans waiting with bated breath to see his next creation, and even websites and blogs devoted to his work.

Google has also recently released iGoogle Artist Themes, where you can customize their iGoogle homepage with themes from famous artists and designers including Jeff Koons, Dale Chihuly, Vera Wang, and Gustavo Rosa. Now you add the work of world-class artists and innovators to your homepage, all for free. But the most popular Google homepage? The plain, white, classic-vanilla version.