With the launch of NGA Images, the National Gallery of Art implements an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are now available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Users do not need to contact the Gallery for authorization to use these images. They are available for download at the NGA Images website (images.nga.gov). See Policy Details below for specific instructions and notes for users.
The mission of the National Gallery of Art is to serve the United States of America in a national role by preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and fostering the understanding of works of art at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards. In pursuing this mission, the Gallery makes its collection images and information available to scholars, educators, and the general public to support research, teaching, and personal enrichment; to promote interdisciplinary research; and to nurture an appreciation of all that inspires great works of art.
The Gallery’s open access policy is a natural extension of this mission, and in applying the policy in a global digital environment, the Gallery also expands and enhances its educational and scholarly outreach. The Gallery believes that increased access to high quality images of its works of art fuels knowledge, scholarship, and innovation, inspiring uses that continually transform the way we see and understand the world of art.
Works in the public domain are those not subject to copyright protection. The Gallery has launched this open access policy with works it believes to be in the public domain, but is hoping gradually to include additional works whose public domain status is currently uncertain. The research necessary to determine public domain status of a work is often complicated, time-consuming, and inconclusive. Nevertheless, the Gallery is committed to clarifying, wherever possible, the status of all of its works and to making them available under the open access policy if and when the Gallery has reason to believe they are in the public domain.
The National Gallery of Art respects all intellectual property rights and complies with applicable copyright law, including the exemption from copyright restrictions under the doctrine of fair use. Nothing in this open access policy is intended to limit the application of this doctrine to the use of images of the Gallery’s collections. The Gallery also respects the privacy and publicity rights of individuals and abides by provisions in donor and purchase agreements that may restrict uses of particular works of art.
Users may download— free of charge and without seeking authorization from the Gallery— any image of a work in the Gallery’s collection that the Gallery believes is in the public domain and is free of other known restrictions.
If an image of a work is not currently available under open access, it is for one or more of the following reasons:
For many works whose status falls into one of the above categories, the Gallery makes available thumbnail images of the work under the doctrine of fair use, consistent with the guidelines established by the Association of Art Museum Directors.