Items16The creator’s order
  1. 1Google Arts & CultureGoogle Arts & Culturegoogle.comThe widest front door on this list. Google works with more than 3,000 cultural institutions in around 90 countries, so one search can put a Dutch Old Master, a textile from West Africa and a piece of space history side by side. The strongest material is the ultra-high-resolution artwork imagery,…0
  2. 2Smithsonian Open AccessSmithsonian Open Accesssi.eduThe best choice when you need to reuse what you find. Smithsonian Open Access launched in 2020 with 2.8 million images and records released under CC0, meaning no permission or credit is required, and the Smithsonian adds to it as new material is cleared. It spans the Smithsonian's museums and…0
  3. 3British Museum Collection OnlineBritish Museum Collection Onlinebritishmuseum.orgA research catalogue on a heroic scale: around 4.5 million object records, with roughly 1.9 million images available for free non-commercial use under a Creative Commons licence. The value is in the records themselves, which often carry inscriptions, findspots, acquisition history and bibliography,…0
  4. 4The Met Collection and Heilbrunn Timeline of Art HistoryThe Met Collection and Heilbrunn Timeline of Art HistoryTwo resources from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art that work best together. Since 2017 the Met has released images of its public domain works under CC0, more than 406,000 of them, and they are large, clean photographs that hold up on a classroom screen. Look for the Open Access icon on an…0
  5. 5Rijksmuseum Collection OnlineRijksmuseum Collection OnlineRijksmuseum.nlThe place to study Dutch painting at a level no gallery visit allows. In November 2024 the museum launched Collection Online as the successor to its long-running Rijksstudio, bringing around 800,000 artworks together with books and documentation in one searchable platform. Two image projects set…0
  6. 6Louvre Collections DatabaseLouvre Collections Databaselouvre.frThe Louvre put its collections database online in 2021, and it now lists more than 500,000 works, including the Musée National Eugène-Delacroix and pieces in storage, on loan or standing in the Tuileries and Carrousel gardens. That breadth is the reason to come: much of what the museum owns is not…0
  7. 7V&A Explore the CollectionsV&A Explore the CollectionsVictoria and Albert MuseumThe strongest online catalogue for design, fashion and the decorative arts. Launched in 2021, it holds well over a million object records and more than half a million images, from medieval ivories to trainers. Toggles let you show only objects with images, or only those on display or available to…0
  8. 8Art Institute of Chicago CollectionArt Institute of Chicago CollectionThe Art Institute of ChicagoOne of the friendliest museum websites to use, and an early mover on CC0: since 2018 the Art Institute has released images of its public domain works for any use, launching with more than 44,000 and promising to add more. Pages are clean, the images are generous, and it is easy to go from a single…0
  9. 9National Gallery of Art Open AccessNational Gallery of Art Open Accessnga.govThe Washington gallery freed its images early, launching NGA Images in 2012, and it now offers more than 50,000 high-resolution pictures of public domain works under CC0, free to download and reuse without asking permission. That makes it a dependable source when a lesson needs a crisp Vermeer,…0
  10. 10Museo del Prado Virtual VisitMuseo del Prado Virtual Visitmuseodelprado.esProof that a virtual visit can be about the art rather than the corridors. The Prado's online tour of its collection includes 89 works digitised at gigapixel resolution, five of them sculptures captured in 3D, so you can walk the rooms and then zoom into a painting far closer than any gallery…0