Art: Websites

A free, searchable archive of digital art installations. You can search for keywords or browse by date, genre or artist etc.

Although a commercial site, this is compiled by an ex-art librarian and sites listed are carefully selected.

Charity showcasing art from over 3,400 British institutions. It shows over 300,000 works by over 50,000 artists from museums, universities, libraries, town halls and hospitals and national bodies.

Access to Getty Provenance Index® databases which contain 1.5 million records taken from source material such as archival inventories, auction catalogues and dealer stock books.

A collection of avant-garde resources including sound, video and text.

Image database of visual arts collections comprising over 100,000 images which are freely available and copyright-cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK. Collections include: African and Asian artists; Design and Romanesque Sculpture in Britain; the Tom Eckersley Archive and the Imperial War Museum collections.

The museum provides Open Access for Scholarly Content. This means any of the images in their collection marked OASC may be used, free of charge, for any scholarly work. Please see the FAQs on the website for further information.

Searchable by artist, title of work and individual galleries, this site provides links to works of art in various virtual museums round the world, providing images and catalogue information. You can also browse the database for genres, themes etc and there is a page of links.

Online catalogue enabling seamless searching across the art collections and related library material. Has publication quality images of art objects in the public domain.

This website aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings. There will be images of around 200,000 paintings when the project is complete. It is a joint initiative between the BBC, the Public Catalogue Foundation and participating collections and museums across the UK.

A picture index of art and architecture containing over 2 million images on art and architecture in 13 European countries.

This project allows users to 'walk' around galleries using the Google Maps 'street view' technology and to see reproductions of artworks.

The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1150-1800), currently containing over 11,600 reproductions. Commentaries on pictures, biographies of artists are available.

inIVA aims to promote the work of culturally-diverse artists. This site has a digital archive of images, text, audio and video. It also includes a link to their library catalogue.

LUX is an arts agency which explores ideas around artists' moving image practice through exhibition, distribution, publishing, education and research. Includes LUX Online, a resource for British based artists' film and video. It contains articles, biographies, film clips and new writings.

UK & Ireland Art Libraries society blog.

200 major art museums have collaborated to provide a single site with information about collections and museums.

Based at the Tate Britain, the Tate Research Services enable researchers to access Tate library and archive collections. Consult their website for more information and to search their catalogue.

The National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum is the main external source for art history students. You can find information about the library, search their catalogue, and find out how to get a reader's ticket on their website.

The Westminster Reference Library has a collection recognised as one of national significance. It consists of over 40,000 volumes covering painting and drawing, sculpture, installations and other aspects of art and design. Consult their website for information about the library, including how to join, and to search their catalogue.