The British Museum Photo: Anna Levan via Shutterstock
Today, more and more art institutions are sharing their permanent collections online. Intended to increase visibility and promote accessibility, digitization projects are a great way for museums and libraries to attract modern audiences.
For years, many organizations have offered images of their objects at no cost to users. More recently, however, the digitization trend has culminated in an even wider selection of free online materials, from downloadable art history books to virtual exhibitions.
Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best free online art resources. With this curated collection, you can take a state-of-the-art tour of the world’s best art institutions with the simple click of a mouse.
Images from Museum Collections:
Public domain images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Dutch masterpieces from the Rijks Museum
Modern paintings from the Barnes Collection
Ancient to contemporary art from LACMA
Modern art from the Guggenheim
Artists’ materials from the Tate
Coloring Sheets from the Color Our Collections project
Open access images from the National Gallery of Art
Vincent Van Gogh, ‘Self-Portrait’ (1889) (Photo: The National Gallery of Art)
Library Highlights:
M.C. Escher prints from the Boston Public Library
Botanical Illustrations from the Biodiversity Heritage Library
Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Library of Congress
Belle Epoque Posters from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Library
Illuminated Manuscripts from the British Library
‘The Miscellany of Iskander Sultan’ (Photo: The British Library)
E-book Repositories
Art history books and catalogs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
Modern art books from The Guggenheim
Art history publications from the Getty Research Portal
Art books from the Getty Museum
Full-text art books from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Left: Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy: Images from a Scientific Revolution
Center: The Art of Ancient Egypt: A Resource for Educators
Right: Monet’s Years at Giverny: Beyond Impressionism
Virtual Tours and Exhibitions:
Virtual Tour of the the Uffizi Gallery
Interactive exhibits from MoMA
Online exhibits from the British Museum
Faces of Frida from Google Arts and Culture
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