The Metropolitan Museum of Art creates, organizes, and disseminates a broad range of digital images documenting the rich history of the Museum, its collection, exhibitions, events, people, and activities. Many of these images are available for personal enjoyment, study, educational purposes, and scholarly publication, according to the Terms and Conditions of this website. For other uses, or when an image is subject to third-party rights, images may be available for licensing. See below for further information. All users of this website are encouraged to carefully review the Terms and Conditions prior to any use of the images or materials on this website. Any third-party permissions, if applicable, are the responsibility of the user; these may include copyright ("artists rights"), trademark, or the rights of privacy or publicity.
Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) via the Met's Website
Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) via Artstor
Art Resource
News Media
Images for Educational Uses
Contact Information
See Visitor Tips and Policies for information about the Museum's photography policy.
Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) via the Met's Website
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is committed to making a broad range of digital images of artworks in the public domain widely and freely available for scholarly and academic publication. To assist in navigating the vast image content on this website, the Museum has implemented Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC). Through OASC, artworks in the Collection section of the website which the Museum believes to be in the public domain and free of other known restrictions have been identified by an icon, 
; images associated with these artworks can be downloaded for license- and cost-free scholarly and academic publication, according to the Terms and Conditions. To learn more about how to identify, access, and use the Museum's Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC), see Frequently Asked Questions: Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC).
Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) via Artstor
The Metropolitan Museum of Art contributes selections of digital images of artworks from its collection to the Images for Academic Publication (IAP) program hosted by the Artstor Digital Library. The IAP program, a collaborative initiative spearheaded by the Museum and Artstor in 2007, provides another option for obtaining free images for academic and scholarly publication. Authors at participating Artstor institutions can access these images directly through Artstor; authors not affiliated with an Artstor subscribing institution can contact Artstor (iap@artstor.org) to request temporary access to this collection of images.
Art Resource
To request images or permissions for commercial use, for any usage other than those stated in the Terms and Conditions, or to request a high-quality image not available on the Met's website, contact Art Resource. Art Resource acts as the Museum's primary agent for the worldwide distribution and fulfillment of licensing requests for the Museum's images. (Note: For scholarly/academic publication, see Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) via this website or Images for Academic Publication (IAP) via Artstor prior to contacting Art Resource.) As the Museum's agent, Art Resource will provide (when possible) quality digital images made by Museum staff. A fee may be charged depending on the nature and type of the proposed use and the availability of photography of the images requested. All requests for new scanning or new photography are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Upon approval, additional fees will apply. New photography will require a minimum of six weeks.
To request Museum images via Art Resource, please use the image request form. Instructions are included on the form, which goes directly to Art Resource once submitted. The following is the contact information for Art Resource:
Art Resource, Inc.
536 Broadway
New York, NY 10012
Email: requests@artres.com
Tel: 212 505-8700
Fax: 212-505-2053
News Media
Journalists requesting images to accompany media coverage of Museum exhibitions, installations, or events may email the Communications Department at communications@metmuseum.org.
More information for journalists is available in the Press Room.
Images for Educational Uses
Digital images of many of the works of art in the Museum's collection are available for study or educational purposes in the Collection section of this website. Consult the Museum's Terms and Conditions for allowable uses.
Digital images of selected works of art from the Museum's collection may be licensed by educational institutions for study and presentation purposes from Scholars Resource. These images may be used for educational purposes only and may not be published or reproduced. For permission to publish or reproduce images, refer to the information above.
Scholars Resource, Inc.
65 Summer Place
Portland, ME 04103
Tel: 207-221-6277
Fax: 207-221-5695
Email: orders@scholarsresource.com
For all other queries, contact the Digital Media Department - Rights and Permissions (see contact information below).
Contact Information
Digital Media Department - Rights and Permissions
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028
Tel: 212-650-2368
Fax: 212-396-5050
Email: image.licensing@metmuseum.org
Use our image request form, which will be submitted directly to Art Resource, the Museum's primary agent for the worldwide distribution and fulfillment of all external licensing requests.
Information about acquiring and using Museum images under the Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC) initiative.
