Art Institute of Chicago Makes Thousands of Hi-Res Images Available for Free

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Gustave Caillebotte, “Paris Street; Rainy Day,” 1877

Chicago is a city steeped in art and culture. In addition to its iconic public sculptures, it boasts one of the oldest and largest museums in the country: the Art Institute of Chicago. While a real-life visit to this historic institution should be on all art lovers' lists, a recent website redesign has made it easy to experience its collection with the click of a mouse.

The museum has reproduced thousands of high-resolution images of its art and released a substantial amount into the public domain. This means that, under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, students, educators, and even everyday art lovers can download this digitized art for free.

Additionally, the Art Institute of Chicago has also enhanced the quality of its digital reproductions. This means that pieces can be explored and examined in greater detail, allowing people to appreciate “the paint strokes in Van Gogh's The Bedroom, the charcoal details on Charles White's Harvest Talk, or the synaesthetic richness of Georgia O'Keeffe's Blue and Green Music” through the screens of their devices.

While many people will undoubtedly visit the website to view world-famous works like Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and Hopper's Nighthawks, the museum hopes that this redesign will also make its less prominent pieces more visible to the public. “Through features such as our recommendation engine, we are making efforts to surface lesser-known artworks that are just as interesting but may be under the radar,” Michael Neault, the museum's Executive Director of Digital Experience says. “So hopefully you’ll discover some new friends along the way.”

To dig through this digital treasure trove, stop by the Art Institute of Chicago's revamped website.

Explore and download digitized art from the acclaimed Art Institute of Chicago.

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Georges Seurat, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” 1884

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Claude Monet, “Water Lilies,” 1906

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Mary Cassatt, “The Child's Bath,” 1893

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Katsushika Hokusai, “Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as the Great Wave, from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)” c. 1830-1833

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Vincent Van Gogh, “The Bedroom,” 1889

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Piet Mondrian, “Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray,” 1921

Art Institute of Chicago Museum Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Art Institute of Chicago Free Resources

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, “At the Moulin Rouge,” c. 1892-1895

The Art Institute of Chicago: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
h/t: [Hyperallergic]

All images via the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Kelly Richman-Abdou

Kelly Richman-Abdou is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met. An art historian living in Paris, Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco and holds a BA in Art History from the University of San Francisco and an MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University. When she’s not writing, you can find Kelly wandering around Paris, whether she’s leading a tour (as a guide, she has been interviewed by BBC World News America and France 24) or simply taking a stroll with her husband and two tiny daughters.
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