Download Famous Works of Art in High Resolution
The Art Institute of Chicago recently updated its website and released a searchable high-resolution art database . What’s more, many works of art are in the public domain, which means you can legally use them however you want, even for commercial purposes. (Check the copyright notice on each artwork page.) You will notice that while you can zoom in on most artwork, only publicly available artwork will include a full resolution download link.
You will recognize such works of art as “American Gothic” , “The Old Guitarist ” by Picasso and “Stacks of Wheat” by Monet . Many of them, even those that are still copyrighted, are good desktop wallpapers.
For anything in the public domain, like Monet, you can download the largest version, submit it to a service like Framebridge , and get your own framed art print. Well art printout. But cool.
In theory, you could also use the public domain in advertising. Imagine the possibilities.
Or not.
Art Institute of Chicago Internet Collection | through Metafilter