Every subject has unique and specialist types of information that add rigour and interest to research. Usually, you’ll need to look beyond Library Search for these information types; some are accessed via specialist databases, while others are available online via websites, social media or streaming platforms.
We’ve picked out some key resources for your subject here but you might like to explore our Resource Guides for more resources on different information types.
Finding Images from Major Art Gallery Collections
For specific details about the use you can make of the images in the collections below, please consult the terms and conditions of the resource in question.
For more general advice on finding and using images, please see our separate Audiovisual Resources Guide.
- Art UKThe online home for every public art collection in the UK. Search over 275,000 artworks.
- Artstor Public CollectionsSearch 1.3 million freely accessible images, videos, documents, and audio files from libraries, archives, and museums via JSTOR. Just click to search for 'images' on the JSTOR search page.
- Birmingham Museum and Art GalleryA searchable picture library containing images of the works held in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery collections. Out-of-copyright collections are freely available under a Creative Commons license.
- Bridgeman Education (images) This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to over three million images, including paintings, posters, artefacts and photographs, from galleries and collections worldwide. All images are copyright-cleared for educational use, and cover a wide range of themes.
- Getty image collectionOver 10,000 images from the J Paul Getty museum, including paintings, photographs, sketchbooks and prints. All the open content images are available to be used without permission.
- Government Art CollectionFor over 100 years, the UK Government Art Collection has collected works of art to promote British art and artists. Explore over 11,000 images from the Collection here.
- Metropolitan Museum of ArtSearch thousands of artworks from New York's metropolitan museum. Some of these are freely available for scholarly use: look for the OASC symbol underneath each image.
- National Gallery (UK)Search the National Gallery's entire collection. Low-resolution images available to download with information on licensing and non-commercial Creative Commons use.
- National Gallery of Art (USA)Over 35,000 open access digital images from the collections of the US National Gallery of Art.
- RijksmuseumSearch and download over 400,000 images from the museum's collections.
- Tate CollectionsSearch the collections of all the Tate museums, covering British Art from 1500-present, together with international modern art. Images are available to download in low-resolution a under Creative Commons license.
- VADS (Visual Arts Data Service) This link opens in a new windowOver 140,000 images from a wide range of collections, including paintings, photographs, posters and artefacts across many themes. The images are copyright cleared for UK higher educational use.
- National Portrait Gallery CollectionsExplore 160,000 portraits from the 16th Century to the present day. Free downloads available for academic use (click 'use this image' on any image for details).
- Victoria and Albert Museum CollectionsSearch for thousands of images and other works from the gallery's collections.
- Archival research: art and artistsResearch guide from the National Archives about how to find archival records relating to art and artists, held in the National Archives and elsewhere.
- Beazley ArchiveSir John Beazley's archive, a classical art research centre containing images from classical art, including pottery, sculpture and inscriptions, and a dictionary.
- Bibliography of the History of ArtThe world's most comprehensive bibliography of scholarly writing about the history of western art. Includes articles from over 1,200 journals. New content is no longer added.
- British artists: interviewsOver 4,000 recordings of interviews with British artists and designers.
- Getty Research ToolsLinks to useful art history resources from the Getty Institute, including digitised texts, collection inventories, research guides and over 10,000 free-to-use images.
- Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource3000 digitised images from Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery's Pre-Raphaelite collection, including sketches, paintings, engravings, tapestries, stained glass, ceramics and fine art objects. Also includes themed essays.
- Royal Academy of Arts CollectionsSearchable archive of the RA collection, including books, digitised art works and rare exhibition catalogues. The library and archive form one of the most significant resources for the study of British art from 1760 onwards.
- SmarthistoryMultimedia art history resource.
- Tate ArchiveSearch or browse a selection of the Tate's archival material (letters, sketchbooks, photographs etc.) relating to British art and artists. Many are CC licensed.
- Van Gogh lettersOnline collection of all surviving letters written and received by Van Gogh. Includes facsimiles, text, translations, sketches, notes and other resources.
- Yale Centre for British ArtSearch the holdings of the largest collection of British art outside the UK, with 47,000 records from the Elizabethan period to the present. All the painting and sculpture images are available online.
- a-n: The Artist Information Company This link opens in a new windowThis resource for artists provides access to various publications, including a-n magazine, together with an image bank, and lots of practical guides and professional development tools.
- Archive of Digital ArtHas been documenting the rapidly evolving field of digital installation art for more than a decade.
- AxisThe online resource for contemporary art. Discussion, news debates and showcases.
- Baltic Plus (archive)Online digital archive and library catalogue from the Baltic Gallery in Gateshead.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is an on-demand film streaming platform providing access to films from around the world, include classic and contemporary feature films, independent films, and documentaries.
- Live Art Development Agency resourcesLinks to useful research resources, including library catalogue, online screenings, audio resources and research guides.
- LuxonlineResource for exploring British film and video artists. Includes video clips, articles and biographies.
- MoMA collectionsSearch or browse the collections of one of the world's major museums of modern art.
- MOMA exhibitionsAll MOMA's exhibitions from 1929 to date.
- UbuWebUbuWeb is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts. It hosts a wide range of texts and audiovisual materials.
- Art: British Library guideGuide to collections and online resources held at the British Library and elsewhere, relating to art. Note: This resource is currently unavailable owing to the cyber attack on the British Library.
- Art and gallery library catalogue overviewBlog post giving an overview of the art libraries and galleries whose catalogues you can search on Library Hub Discover.
- Bloomsbury Popular Music This link opens in a new windowComprehensive resource covering all genres of popular music, including ebooks, books about significant LPs, artist biographies and interactive timeline and map.
- National Art LibraryBased at the V and A in London, the National Art Library is a major public reference library of fine and decorative arts of many countries and periods. You can search its catalogues online.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowWith the complete redesign of Grove Art Online, as well as the addition of substantial new Oxford reference content, Oxford Art Online offers the most extensive and easily searchable online art resource available today.
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