The Smithsonian Institution's groundbreaking open access initiative providing free, unrestricted downloads of over 4.7 million high-resolution images from the world's largest museum complex.
In February 2020, the Smithsonian Institution launched its Open Access initiative, releasing over 4.7 million high-resolution images from its vast collections into the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Anyone, anywhere, can download, use, modify, and share these images for any purpose without restriction, permission, or attribution.
The Smithsonian's 21 museums and research centers hold 155 million items spanning art, history, science, culture, natural history, and technology. Open Access makes a substantial portion of this unparalleled collection freely available in digital form, creating one of the most extraordinary free image resources ever assembled.
High-resolution scans of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Hirshhorn Museum, and the Freer and Sackler Galleries. This includes masterworks of American art, Asian art, contemporary art, and folk art spanning centuries of creative production.
The National Museum of Natural History contributes millions of specimen photographs, botanical illustrations, geological samples, and wildlife imagery. These scientific images are invaluable for artists seeking accurate biological and geological reference material.
Historical photographs, artifacts, documents, and cultural objects from the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Museum of the American Indian provide rich visual material for educational, artistic, and research purposes.
The Smithsonian has digitized thousands of objects as 3D models that can be downloaded, viewed from any angle, and even 3D printed. For artists, these models provide reference views of historical objects, sculptures, and artifacts that would otherwise require museum visits to study.
The collection provides an extraordinary source of artistic reference material: historical artwork for study and inspiration, natural history specimens for biological accuracy, cultural artifacts for historical research, and architectural photographs for environment reference. The CC0 license means these images can be used freely in any creative context.
High-resolution scans of paintings and drawings allow artists to study brushwork, composition, color relationships, and technique at a level of detail that surpasses what is visible in person at many museums. Zooming into a high-resolution scan of a Rembrandt or a Sargent reveals individual brushstrokes and technical decisions that inform your own practice.
The CC0 license explicitly permits modification and incorporation into new creative works. Artists working in collage, digital compositing, and mixed media can freely incorporate Smithsonian images into their artwork without legal concerns.
The natural history and decorative arts collections provide extraordinary texture and pattern references—mineral surfaces, textile patterns, ceramic glazes, botanical details, and architectural ornament that serve as both reference and inspiration for artists working in any medium. The resolution of many scans is sufficient for detailed study of surface qualities and material properties.
The primary access point is the Smithsonian Open Access portal (si.edu/openaccess), which provides a unified search interface across all participating museums and research centers. Users can search by keyword, filter by museum, media type, date, and other criteria, and download high-resolution images directly. The interface is clean and functional, designed for efficient discovery and download rather than elaborate presentation.
For developers and researchers who need programmatic access to the collection, the Smithsonian API provides structured data access to metadata and image files. This API enables building custom applications, conducting large-scale research, and integrating Smithsonian content into digital projects—from educational apps to creative tools to data visualization projects.
Many Smithsonian Open Access images are also available through third-party platforms including Rawpixel, Wikimedia Commons, and various educational resources. These platforms sometimes provide additional curation, categorization, or presentation that makes specific subsets of the collection easier to discover and use.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum collection spans the entire history of American artistic production—from colonial-era portraiture through Hudson River School landscapes, American Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and contemporary practice. High-resolution scans of paintings by Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Nam June Paik, and hundreds of other American artists provide study material of extraordinary depth and quality.
The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery contribute one of the finest collections of Asian art in the Western world—Chinese paintings, Japanese screens, Korean ceramics, Indian sculpture, and Islamic art spanning thousands of years of artistic production. For artists interested in Asian artistic traditions, these high-resolution scans provide access to masterworks that would otherwise require traveling to Washington, D.C.
The National Air and Space Museum collection includes historical photographs of aviation and space exploration, technical drawings, and images of aircraft and spacecraft. While not traditional art reference, these images serve concept artists, science fiction illustrators, and designers who need accurate visual reference for aerospace subjects.
The Smithsonian's photography collections include works by major American photographers spanning the history of the medium—daguerreotypes, Civil War photography, early 20th-century documentary work, and contemporary art photography. For photography students and practitioners, these collections provide a visual history of the medium that supplements any textbook.
The decision to release content under Creative Commons Zero rather than a more restrictive license was a deliberate and significant choice. CC0 places content in the public domain with no restrictions whatsoever—no attribution required, no commercial use limitations, no modification restrictions. This means Smithsonian Open Access content can be used in commercial products, modified into new artwork, printed on merchandise, incorporated into educational materials, or used in any other way without permission, payment, or attribution.
This unrestricted access represents the Smithsonian's commitment to its founding mission of "the increase and diffusion of knowledge"—a mission that digital technology and open licensing make possible at unprecedented scale.
Educators at every level—from elementary school through graduate programs—use Smithsonian Open Access content in classroom instruction, course materials, textbooks, and research. The CC0 license eliminates the copyright concerns that typically limit the use of museum imagery in educational contexts, making it possible to create richly illustrated educational materials without licensing fees or permission requests.
Art history courses, studio art programs, and design curricula benefit particularly from access to high-resolution images that can be projected, printed, and studied in detail that surpasses what museum visits typically allow.
Smithsonian Open Access is one of the most significant cultural resources of the digital age. Its 4.7 million high-resolution images spanning American art, Asian art, natural history, cultural artifacts, 3D models, and historical photographs—all released under the unrestricted CC0 public domain license—represent an extraordinary commitment to making humanity's cultural heritage freely accessible. For artists seeking reference and inspiration, educators building course materials, designers needing authentic historical imagery, and anyone who values free access to cultural heritage, the Smithsonian Open Access initiative is an extraordinary gift that should be explored, used, and celebrated.
Image Library
4.7 million+
Monthly Visitors
5 million+
Founded
2020
Rating
Pricing Model
FreeLicense Type
Creative Commons Zero (CC0) - Public Domain
Resolution
High Resolution
Download Limit
No limit
Founder
Smithsonian Institution
Headquarters
Washington, D.C., USA
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