This guide is designed to provide helpful links to image resources using library databases and/or free resources on the internet. Click on the tabs to find recommended research resources.
Remember, you must always provide a citation for the image(s) that you use. Be sure to keep track of the basic information needed for citing images:
Creator name(s)
Title of work
Creation date
Materials and dimensions
Location of work (museum, repository, collection, et cetera)
If you found the image in a book or periodical, you will need to cite the book's or magazine's information.
If you found the image on the web or in an online database, you will need to cite the database name, URL, identifying file number for the image, and date of access.
Your instructor may require you to use a specific style manual; consult the manual for the proper format of your citation.
CC Search searches across more than 300 million images from open APIs and the Common Crawl dataset. It goes beyond simple search to aggregate results across multiple public repositories into a single catalog, and facilitates reuse through features like machine-generated tags and one-click attribution.
Search for photos on Flickr that have one of the CC licenses.
Free high-resolution pictures you can use on your personal and commercial projects.
Click on an image to download the high-resolution version. New awesome pictures added weekly. All pictures were photographed by Ryan McGuire and free of copyright restrictions.
Aggregates photos from a variety of photographers around the world. Search and browse free, high-resolution photos.
Many museums will allow open access (free use) to images of art works that are out of copyright. Below is a list of museums and other archives that provide unrestricted downloads of high-resolution images.
Art Institute of Chicago
More than 50,000 images of works in the collection
ArchNet (Islamic Architecture and Culture)
Over 65,000 images focusing on Muslim cultures and civilizations. Registration is required, but free.
Belvedere, Vienna
Roughly half of an 18,600-strong collection, including the world-famous group of works by Klimt and Schiele
Birmingham Museums Trust
Nearly 2,500 images from across the eight municipal collections looked after by the trust. More are gradually being added.
The Bridgeman Art Library Archive
Cleveland Art Museum
30,000 works from the collection
Documents of 20th-century Latin American and Latino Art
Harvard Art Museums
More than 200,000 images available from the university’s collections of 250,000 objects
Harry Ransom Center Digital Collections
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
More than 100,000 images from the museum and the Getty Research Center archives
Kunstmuseum Basel
More than 4,100 photographs of works in the public domain
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Millions of images from the national archives
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Nearly 20,000 images from the collections
Mauritshuis, The Hague
The full collection of more than 800 works, mainly by Dutch and Flemish masters
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
More than 400,000 images
Metropolitan Museum of Art Digital Collections
Museum of Modern Art Online Collection
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Access to more than 50,000 works
Munch Museet, Norway
One of the world’s largest single-artist collections: 1,150 paintings and some 18,000 prints, free to download
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
Around 30,000 images from New Zealand’s state collections
Národní galerie Praha
The Czech Republic’s national collections in Prague
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
More than 51,000 works in the public domain
Nationalmuseet Danmark
More than 50,000 images from 20 institutions across Denmark
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
6,000 images – most of the collection – via Wikimedia Commons
New York Public Library
180,000 items, free to share and reuse
National Gallery of Art Online Collections
National Museum of Women in the Arts
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Paris Musées
320,000 images from 14 Parisian institutions, including the Petit Palais and the Catacombs
Pinakotheken, Munich
More than 10,000 works from the Bavarian State Paintings Collections – free to download and reuse
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
360,000 images – more than a third of the collection
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
As of 26 February 2020, 2.8m digitised images from across the Smithsonian’s multiple museums, research centres, libraries and archives are freely available online.
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
Full access to out-of-copyright works. Strong on Munich-based painters of the 19th and early 20th centuries
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Around 15,000 works (of a quarter of a million) have been photographed in hi-res, with all public domain images free to download and use
The Walters Art Museum Online Collection
Wellcome Collection, London
Thousands of archival images from the science collections at the museum and library
Yale University
Some 250,000 images from the university collections, including the Art Gallery and the Yale Center for British Art
In addition to Museums and Archives, other art-related organizations provide access to open access images of artworks via the Web. These include:
Image library covering the subjects of art, architecture, humanities, and social sciences.
Digital Public Library of America
Digitized material from America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions; includes content such as: photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, and government documents.
The European equivalent to the DPLA. Digitized materials from archives, libraries, and museums across Europe; includes content such as: books, artwork, and music.
Google Arts & Culture is a non-commercial initiative. They work with cultural institutions and artists around the world to preserve and bring the world’s art and culture online so it’s accessible to anyone, anywhere.
Primarily a digital archive with content such as: web pages, books, audio recordings, live concert recordings, videos, televised news programs, images, and software programs.
A free, not-for-profit, multi-media web-book designed as a dynamic enhancement for the traditional art history textbook. Includes videos, images, text, timelines for the open collaboration in study of art history.