Most art research involves finding images to inspire your own work or to illustrate your arguments in a paper. Images can be appended to the end of your paper and also used for in-class presentations. Finding high-quality images can be difficult when using a simple Google image search, and the use of some images may violate copyright laws.
The resources on this page provide access to high-quality images available specifically for research and instructional use. Many of these collections allow you to browse by medium, genre, or subject, which will lead you to discover works of art that are new to you.
Remember: if you cannot find an image you need online, you may find it in a related monograph or exhibition catalogue in the library. Use the in-house scanner to make a digital reproduction for your paper or presentation.
The principle of Fair Use, a part of US copyright law, allows students, scholars, educators, librarians, and archivists to use reproductions (analog slides or digital images) of copyrighted works for academic purposes, including analytical writing and teaching about art, as well as making art; however, some limitations do apply. For example:
For more information, refer to the College Art Association's Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts (2015) or contact Lyndsay Bratton (x2729).
The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration with some of the world’s most acclaimed museums to enable anyone to explore museum collections using Street View technology. Discover featured artworks at high resolution and use the custom viewer to zoom into paintings. Create your own collection and save specific views of any of the more than 45,000 artworks.
In addition to the websites and databases provided here, you can find high-resolution digital collections on many other museum and archives websites.