America's Presidents app

DAILY DOT COM - (CNN) A trip to an art museum usually means paintings behind velvet ropes, but now at least one museum is encouraging patrons to reach out and touch one of their most popular collections -- with an app, that is.

The majority of what Americans know about most of the nation's presidents comes from static monuments, documents, and history books.  The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is taking a different approach, stretching its collection of presidential portraits, way beyond museum walls.

“These galleries are all equipped with public Wi-fi and so if you come down with your iPad we wanted to make sure that as you walked around and looked at the portrait of President Kennedy, you could also use your iPad to explore even more content than we are able to show in the label text next to the painting,” explained Nik Apostolides, National Portrait Gallery Associate Director.

It's a 21st-century accompaniment to one of the museum's most traditional collections, one that starts with this iconic portrait of George Washington.  The museum says users can explore other images too, including the Constitution, him on Rushmore, and of course the Washington Monument.

The goal for this app and a crop of other new museum apps is to bring the gallery “off the wall” and to wherever the individual is standing.

“We'd love for everyone to be down here walking the galleries but we know that's not always possible. We wanted to take the best of that experience and put it in an easy, fun, informative and educational app,” Apostolides said.

The America's Presidents app costs $6.99 and runs on the iPad only.  There’s also an associated Twitter account @Americasprez.