ArtStor is a collection of high-quality scans and images from around the world. Images come from a variety of contributors, including museums, colleges, and art image vendors.
You can do a Google search for an image, but there are better images out there than someone's vacation photo. If you find an image online you will need to carefully evaluate the image and its source to ensure that it is actually an image of what it says it is an image of, is free of distractions from the main focus, and taken in a way that is unedited and representative and accurate in color and size. Additionally, getting a high-resolution image on Google can be very difficult, as often images uploaded to the web are limited by in size and pixels. However, if you use ArtStor you gain access to high-quality images that have been contributed by professionals and reviewed to ensure the most representative image in comparison to the original.
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You can use the limiters in ArtStor to narrow your search to a geographic location, type of work, date range, and other types of limiters. This can help you find what you are looking for, especially if you are not sure of an exact name. In the example I've included, the "Bean" in Chicago is the nickname given to the public sculpture Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor. You can still search for and find the work using its nickname, but because it is such a common word you need to limit the search in order to find the results you are looking for.
Once you select an image, you are taken to a page with all of the information ArtStor contains about the image, as well as ArtStor's image viewer which allows you to zoom in to a part of the work. The thumbnail map in the bottom left has a red box to show what part of the image you are magnifying.
The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is committed to making a broad range of digital images of artworks in the public domain widely and freely available for scholarly and academic publication.
The National Gallery of Art was created in 1937 for the people of the United States of America by Congress, from a gift of Andrew W. Mellon. During the 1920s, Mr. Mellon began collecting with the intention of forming a gallery of art for the nation in Washington.
Search all images from the Smithsonian's museums, galleries, and archives.
Provides a single point of access to over 300 art and design collections across the UK, which are freely available for non-commercial use in education.
