Museums
National Gallery of Art
Our open data program is a natural extension of the National Gallery’s mission: to welcome all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.
We aim to make as much data as possible available to as many people as possible, in support of research, teaching, and personal enrichment. We believe that increased access to factual data about works of art fuels knowledge, scholarship, and innovation, inspiring uses that transform the way we discover and understand the world of art.
You can download the dataset of factual art object information for the 130,000+ artworks and artists in our collection from Github. We release this data under a Creative Commons 0 (CC0) license. This means that you can download the full dataset free of charge, and without seeking our permission.
URL: nga.gov/artworks/free-images-and-open-access
Smithsonian Open Access
Welcome to Smithsonian Open Access, where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to more than 5.1 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections—with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.
URL: si.edu/openaccess
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to offer free, unrestricted use of over 50,000 images of works in the collection believed to be in the public domain or to which the museum otherwise waives any copyright it might have. Such images are made available under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) designation and the Terms and Conditions of this website.
URL: artic.edu/open-access/open-access-images
Aggregates
ArtBee
ArtBee aggregates [public domain access collections from museums] into one searchable platform, making it easier to discover and download high-quality public domain artworks.
URL: artbee.org
Public Domain Image Archive
Explore our hand-picked collection of 10,919 out-of-copyright works, free for all to browse, download, and reuse. This is a living database with new images added every week.
URL: pdimagearchive.org
Lists of Resources
Pratt Institute Libraries
The links below provide access to images that are in the public domain or have been made available for reuse and can likely be used in for small run scholarly publications and theses free of charge. Always check the rights statement associated with each image to make sure that you are abiding by the terms of use, which may include a specific format for the credit line.
URL: libguides.pratt.edu/c.php
Apollo Magazine
A round-up of museums and archives that have released high resolution images into the public domain
URL: apollo-magazine.com/open-access-image-libraries-a-handy-list
Digital Art History Directory
The Digital Art History Directory (DAHD) is an open-access publication containing a database of digital art history projects and information on data sources, best practices in Digital Art History project construction, preservation, and web archiving. Intended to be the largest, most comprehensive, and inclusive collection of information on Digital Art History and to function as a tool and living resource, rather than a static publication, the DAHD provides a platform for discovery, sharing, and research of Digital Art History.
URL: dahd.hcommons.org/open-image-collections
A Home is Announced
On this site you’ll find links to my Public Domain Print Shop, as well as posts for DIY tutorials, thrifting tips, my favorite books I’m reading, updates on our most recent home renovations and a little bit of real life sprinkled in along the way. Thanks for visiting my little corner of the internet and I hope you enjoy your stay!
After spending thousands of hours sourcing free public domain art for The Public Domain Print Shop, I’ve learned a thing or two about where to find the best public domain art online.
URL: ahomeisannounced.com/2025/04/17/best-public-domain-art-online