Art UK

A database of artworks created and collected in collaboration with over 3,000 UK institutions. Almost 30,000 images of which are made available under a Creative Commons license, allowing for their free, non-commercial use and distribution. Notable contributors include the Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum, University of Aberdeen, and the Royal Ulster Academy.

Harvard Art Museum Digital Collections

The Harvard Art Museums have played a leading role in the development of art history, conservation, and conservation science, and in the evolution of the art museum as an institution.

Through research, teaching, professional training, and public education, the museums strive to advance the understanding and appreciation of art. Programs encourage close looking at original works of art, collaboration with campus and community partners, and the production of new scholarship.

Harvard Library Public Image Collections 

Harvard Library is home to all kinds of historical documents and objects that can enhance your research. 

These primary source materials can range from documents to images to artifacts and more — like handwritten poetry by some of the best known authors of our time, campaign materials from decades past, and images that capture people and places as they once were.

Digital Public Library of America

The Digital Public Library of America is charged with empowering people to learn, grow, and contribute to a diverse and better-functioning society. They attempt this by maximizing public access to shared histories, cultures, and knowledge.

Digital Repository of Ireland

The Digital Repository of Ireland is a national digital repository for Ireland’s humanities, social sciences, and cultural heritage data. You can browse and search across multiple collections from some of the finest Irish institutions.

International Advertising & Design Database

Dr Hans Sachs (1881-1974), with his Verein der Plakatfreunde (Society of Poster Lovers) and through its journal Das Plakat (1910-1921), systematically promoted commercial graphic design for the first time and tried to catalogue its history. The not-for-profit foundation of the International Advertising & Design Database was founded in 2014 in the Netherlands as an hommage to Dr Sachs -- it is the goal of the Foundation to publicize as much information as possible through its IADDB and to ask the public to actively participate by adding images, names, dates and all other kinds of information.

Notable collections in the database include artist monograms, advertisement jingles, and video advertisements.

Library of Congress Digital Collections

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States of America. These are its public digital collections.

Marxist Internet Archive -- Graphics, Illustrations, and Drawings

An all-volunteer, non-profit public library of mostly public domain material relating to Marx or Marxist thought -- in this case, satirical and artistic works inspired by socialist and radical ideas. All of the high resolution digital records of publications and art, were created by Martin Goodman MD and the Riazanov Library digital archive project (unless noted otherwise).

Minneapolis College of Art and Design Library -- Flickr account

The Flicker account of Minneapolis College of Art and Design library -- a national leader in fine arts, design, entrepreneurship, and sustainability education. The account showcases images from their archives and public collections, such as selections of artist books, posters, and photographs.

Monoskop

Monoskop is a wiki for collaborative studies of the arts, media and humanities.

Their index, log and media library sections each bring together material from Monoskop in one place -- these contain topics, concepts, practices, places, events and persons relevant for the studies of art, media and the humanities.

Norman Rockwell Museum

This collection of resources provides information about the subject of illustration, from collections of original art to relevant blogs and essays. A special feature highlights video interviews with noted practitioners, who offer compelling insights about their personal experiences and inspirations.

The site also includes and ever-expanding reference list on a diverse spectrum of illustrators across time, cultures, and artistic styles.

Rijksstudio

Over 600,000 high-resolution works of art from the collection of the Rijkssmuseum in the Netherlands. These images are published copyright-free, so you you can do what you like with them -- for either private or commercial purposes. Create your own Rijksstudio to collect, share, and download these images.

UbuWeb

UbuWeb is a large web-based educational resource for avant-garde material.  Founded in 1996 by poet Kenneth Goldsmith, it offers visual, concrete and sound poetry, expanding to include film and sound art mp3 archives.

UbuWeb was founded in response to the marginal distribution of crucial avant-garde material. It ensures educational open access to out-of-print works that find a second life through digital art reprint while also representing the work of contemporaries.

Unsplash

Over 850,000 free (do-whatever-you-want) high-resolution photos, brought to you by the world’s most generous community of photographers. Browse by subject, theme, collection, or search by more specific keywords. 

Visual Arts Data Service

The Visual Arts Data Service has provided services to the academic community for 20 years and has built up a considerable portfolio of visual art collections comprising over 140,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK. VADS is a service of the Library & Student Services department of the University for the Creative Arts.

Yale University Art Gallery

In addition to its online collection database of rights-protected works, the Yale University Art Gallery offers numerous digital archives and online resources freely for student, researchers, and the public. These collections amount to thousands of well-annotated, fully searchable, and interlinked images, on a variety of topics and in a variety of formats

Ukiyo-e.org

Ukiyo-e.org was created to aide researchers in the study of Japanese woodblock prints. It is primarily a database of Japanese woodblock print images and metadata aggregated from a variety of museums, universities, libraries, auction houses, and dealers around the world.

Each print image is analyzed and compared against all other print images in the database. Similar prints are displayed together for comparison and analysis. Multiple copies of the same print are also automatically lined up with each other and made viewable in a gallery for easy comparison.

Chester Beatty Library's Digital Collections

Provides online access to the remarkable treasures of the Chester Beatty Library through a searchable database of digitised artworks and manuscripts. The digital archive is continually expanding, so make sure to visit it regularly to see the breadth and diversity of the institution's collections.

Open Access at the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art has an open access policy for images of works of art in our permanent collection which the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are available for download free of charge for any use, whether commercial or non-commercial.

Open Access image downloads are now available directly from the object pages located on this website. Over 50,000 images are available for download, and we will continue to add more images for free access as more works are photographed and as works of art enter the public domain. 

EUROPEANA

Europeana provides cultural heritage enthusiasts, professionals, teachers, and researchers with digital access to European cultural heritage material. Why? To inspire and inform fresh perspectives and open conversations about our history and culture. To share and enjoy our rich cultural heritage. To use it to create new things.

You can access millions of cultural heritage items from institutions across Europe. Discover artworks, books, music, and videos on art, newspapers, archaeology, fashion, science, sport, and much more.

RIBA Architecture Image Library
 

The online image library of The RIBA Collections. The collection brings together over four million objects in a broad range of media through a shared narrative that describes how buildings, communities and civilisations are designed and constructed. Also useful for interior decoration.