# Free public-domain art: paintings and prints

> Free public-domain art from museum open-access collections: paintings, Japanese prints, botanical drawings and engravings, released as CC0 by the museums.

Museums have released millions of photographs of public-domain works under CC0: you can print a Van Gogh on a tote bag, put a Hokusai wave on a book cover or use a 19th-century botanical plate on a packaging design without asking anyone. These collections gather that art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cleveland Museum of Art, searched directly, with Wikimedia Commons and Openverse filling the gaps. Every card shows the museum, the year and the licence.

Updated 2026-11-03.

## Collections

- [Free botanical illustrations and plant drawings](https://image.shep.bot/collections/botanical-illustrations.md): 36 images from 6 sources. Free public-domain botanical illustrations: hand-coloured plates of flowers, fruit and plants from old herbals and museums, ready for print and design.
- [Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyo-e), free](https://image.shep.bot/collections/japanese-woodblock-prints.md): 36 images from 4 sources. Free public-domain Japanese woodblock prints: Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro and more, from museum open-access collections, with sizes and CC0 licences shown.
- [Public-domain Impressionist paintings](https://image.shep.bot/collections/public-domain-impressionist-paintings.md): 36 images from 4 sources. Free Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from museum open access (Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne), released as CC0 by the Met and other museums.

## What open access means

When a work's copyright has expired (in most countries 70 years after the artist died), museums that photograph it can release the photograph under CC0. The Met, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cleveland Museum of Art do this for hundreds of thousands of works and offer the files at print resolution. Works still in copyright stay out of these collections.

## Using museum images well

Crop and recolour freely: CC0 has no conditions. A credit line ('Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1887. The Metropolitan Museum of Art') is good manners and helps your readers. Use the largest file for print: museum originals often run to 4000 pixels or more, and the Cleveland Museum of Art also offers full-resolution TIFFs.

## Questions

**Can I sell prints of public-domain paintings?**

Yes, when the museum releases the image as CC0 or public domain, as the Met, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cleveland Museum of Art do for their open-access works. Check the verdict on each image: works still in copyright are not included.

**Do I have to credit the museum?**

Not for CC0 images, but museums ask for it and it helps readers find the original. A line with the artist, title, date and museum is enough.

## Guides

- [Free images for commercial use: what you can actually use](https://image.shep.bot/guides/free-images-commercial-use.md): Which free image licences allow commercial use (CC0, public domain, CC BY, free stock licences), which don't, and what still needs a release.
- [Museum open access: free public-domain art you can reuse](https://image.shep.bot/guides/museum-open-access-art.md): How museums release public-domain art as CC0, which collections Image Asset Server searches (the Met, Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland), and how to use them.

## Other kinds

- [Free nature photos: landscapes and wildlife](https://image.shep.bot/collections/nature.md)
- [Free space images: planets, galaxies and Earth](https://image.shep.bot/collections/space.md)
- [Free historical images: old photos and maps](https://image.shep.bot/collections/history.md)
- [Free icons, vectors and textures for design](https://image.shep.bot/collections/design.md)

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Source: https://image.shep.bot/collections/art