Museums & Collections

Explore public-domain artworks by museum as canvas, framed canvas and framed prints, made to order. Find the perfect piece for every space. There are currently 24 museums to browse, covering the full public-domain archive. Every piece here can be previewed for free, bought as a digital download, unlocked through a membership, or ordered as a made-to-order print.

What is a museum, on Archive Lane?

A museum page groups the artworks whose high-resolution scans come from one public collection — the Rijksmuseum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Finnish National Gallery and others that release their public-domain holdings as open data. Each page lists only works that institution has digitised, so the file you download is the museum's own scan of the original.

Choosing where it goes

Browsing by museum suits collectors who already know a collection — Dutch Golden Age prints from the Rijksmuseum, Japanese woodblock prints from the Art Institute of Chicago, Nordic painting from the Finnish National Gallery — and anyone who wants the provenance of the scan to be clear before printing it.

Popular museums

A few of the largest museums in the archive:

• Rijksmuseum — 145,923 artworks
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art — 44,236 artworks
• Art Institute of Chicago — 28,280 artworks
• Wikimedia Commons — 22,440 artworks
• Finnish National Gallery — 17,158 artworks

Digital downloads or a printed piece

Every artwork can be previewed for free, downloaded as the original high-resolution file with a membership, or ordered as a made-to-order print — Canvas, Rolled Canvas, Framed Canvas or Framed Print from $21.99, shipping included. Prints are made to order at the production partner closest to you and shipped locally rather than from a central warehouse.

More ways to browse

Museums is one of several ways to browse the archive — the same artworks can also be found by subjects, movements, cultures, or topics, depending on how you already think about the piece you want.

Frequently asked questions

How many museums does Archive Lane have?

There are currently 24 museums in the archive, each linking to every public-domain artwork that matches it.

Can I combine a museum with other filters?

Yes. Once you open a museum page you can narrow the results further by artist, colour, orientation and, where relevant, movement or room.

Is the art free to preview?

Yes, every artwork on Archive Lane can be previewed at full size for free. Downloading the original file or ordering a print is what you pay for.

What print formats are available?

Canvas (gallery-wrapped, no frame), Rolled Canvas (the same canvas, unstretched and shipped rolled in a tube, no frame), Framed Canvas (canvas set into a classic wood frame) and Framed Print (fine art paper behind an acrylic glaze, in a wood frame). All are made to order and shipped locally.