Art History Resources on the WWW
Evaluating Websites
Consider the following five criteria:
1. Accuracy - Is the information correct?
2. Authority - What are the author's credentials?
3. Coverage - Is the content covered comprehensively?
4. Currency - Is the information current?
5. Purpose - Is the content biased?
If you're not certain, ask a librarian!
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a group of licenses which enable use of many online images, videos, music and other digital materials. It is a great resource for academic institutions as most works covered by the license allow for use in an educational setting without the need to contact the copyright holder. There is also a Creative Commons license that allows use for any purpose. Note that when using a work covered by Creative Commons you must always credit the work.
To search for images covered by Creative Commons licenses use the CC Search
U.S. and International Museums - Online Collections
- Art Institute of Chicago High quality images from the museum's collection, for use under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
- The British Museum Collections "The British Museum is unique in bringing together under one roof the cultures of the world, spanning continents and oceans. No other museum is responsible for collections of the same depth and breadth, beauty and significance. Its eight million objects allow us to explore the extraordinary diversity of human cultures, from small communities to vast empires, to discover the many forms and expressions human beings have given to every aspect of life, and to realise how closely they are interconnected."
- Cleveland Museum of Art Ancient - 20th century art.
- Cooper-Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum Online Collections This collection spans thirty centuries of historic and contemporary design,
- Europeana Images from museums, galleries and libraries representing the cultural heritage of Europe.
- J. Paul Getty Museum Online Collections The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photography from its beginnings to the present, gathered internationally.
- Kyoto National Museum Online Collections The database provides over 10,000 images of over 5,000 objects or sets of objects from the musem collections: Buddhist Paintings, Illustrated Handscrolls, Portraiture, Medieval Ink Paintings, Momoyama-Edo paintings, Chinese Paintings, Calligraphy, Metalwork, Lacquerware, Textiles and Costumes, Ceramics, Archaeological Relics, Sculpture
- Los Angeles Country Museum of Art (LACMA) Online Collections LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of more than 142,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population.
- The Louvre Online Collections Formerly a royal palace, the Louvre has embraced the history of France for eight centuries. Intended as a universal museum since its inception in 1793, its collections—among the finest in the world—span several thousands of years and a territory that extends from America to the confines of Asia. Divided among eight departments, these collections feature works admired throughout the globe, including the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Venus de Milo. With nearly ten million visitors in 2012, the Louvre is the world’s most visited museum.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art Online Collection The Met was founded in 1870 and his build a collection to represent more than 5,000 years of art from across the globe—from the first cities of the ancient world to the works of our time.
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Ancient to Contemporary Art
- National Gallery of Art Online Collections The U.S. National Gallery of Art houses a collection of more than 150,000 paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, photographs, prints, and drawings. It spans the history of Western art and showcases some of the triumphs of human creativity.
- Smithsonian Museum Ancient to contemporary art and artifacts.
- Uffizi Galleries Online Collections The Uffizi Galleries first brought together three extraordinary museum complexes in 2014. Together, these three structures contain the core of the collections of art, precious artisan-made objects, books, and plants belonging to the Medici, Habsburg-Lorraine and Savoy families. It is a stunning collection of treasures dating from Antiquity to the 20th century, and over the years, it has contributed to the fame of the Uffizi, Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens.
- Vatican Museum Online Collections & Tours Mission: To present, preserve and share that extraordinary legacy of culture, history, and beauty that the Roman Pontiffs have collected and preserved for centuries. The Vatican Museums have an immense collection of art in multiple disciplines and from various eras and culture.
- Victoria & Albert Museum Online Collections The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.
Virtual Walk-Through Museum Tours
- British Museum Virtual walkthrough via Google Maps
- Dali' Museum, Florida Scroll to bottom of page, select virtual tour.
- The J. Paul Getty Museum Click on the "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- Le Gallerie delle Uffizi, Firenze Click on the yellow "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- The Louvre, Paris Scroll down, select virtual tour.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC Click on the yellow "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- Musee Dorsay, Paris Virtual Tour Click on the "human" icon for the virtual tour, and the "explore" button for an interactive timeline of history.
- Museo Frida Kahlo Click on yellow "human" icon for virtual tour.
- Museo Reina Sofia Scroll down & select tour by clicking on the yellow "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand Click on the yellow "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Click on the yellow "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Korea Click on the "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Click on the yellow "human" icon for the virtual tour.
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam Click on the "human" icon for the virtual tour.
Art Images from the Web
- Enables searching by period or artist and provides text.
- Images identify museum which holds the artwork. For rights information, go to museum website.
Art Images for College Teaching
- Images of architecture and art
- While the images are believed to be of public domain works; if you decide to use any of the images in the collectoin, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission.
Art Renewal Center (ARC): Click on Museum
- Allows searching of artworks by artist or name of the work.
- Consult website of museum owning the work for information on use.
Digital Imaging Project (Architecture)
- Photographs are all from the website creator who allows free use for educational (non-commercial) purposes
- Images free to use in educational settings.
- Most images were contributed by museums and are free for educational use. Consult the website of the museum holding the work.
- LIFE Photo ArchiveSearch millions of photos from 1750s - 1970s at Google's LIFE photo archive.
Get Started: Copyright and Images
Copyright protection 
covers photographs, graphics, cartoons, music, movie clips, text and more in both print and digital formats. Generally, copyright provides the author or the creator of the work control of the use, alteration, copying, distribution, performance, and sale of the work. Copyright is automatic. Neither publication nor registration is essential for a work to be copyright protected, even if no © notice or warning is displayed.
4 ways you can use digital images without violating copyright:
1. Use Pima Community College's subscriptions to image databases (links to databases are in the box on the right).
2. Use images found through a Creative Commons Search (see Creative Commons box on the right).
3. Fair Use. The Fair use doctrine permits reproduction and other uses of copyrighted works without the permission of the owner of the work under certain conditions for limited purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. Fair use depends on a reasoned and balanced application of four factors.
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the purpose and character of the use, including whether it is for commercial or nonprofit educational purposes
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the nature of the copyrighted material
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the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the whole
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the effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted material
Weighing the Fair use factors is often difficult and at times subjective. In general, Fair use only permits use of small parts of copyrighted materials during a limited period of time. For more information about Fair Use consult PCC's webpage on Copyright. To evaluate Copyright Fair Use you can utilize Pima Community College’s Copyright Fair Use Checklist.
4. Public Domain. The term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws (such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws). The copyright may have expired on these works or they may have been produced by the U.S. government, so the public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. Anyone can use a public domain work without obtaining permission. To assist you in determining if something is in the public domain, you may want to consult Cornell University's Copyright Term and Public Domain webpage.
Note: for instructors wanting to use digital materials in online courses, please consult PCC's webpage on Copyright for information on the Teach Act.