National Gallery of Art Open Data Program

The National Gallery of Art serves the United States by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity. In pursuing our mission, we are making certain data about our collection available to scholars, educators, and the general public in CSV format to support research, teaching, and personal enrichment; to promote interdisciplinary research; to encourage fun and creativity; and to help people understand the inspiration behind great works of art. We hope that access to this dataset will fuel knowledge, scholarship, and innovation, inspiring uses that transform the way we discover and understand the world of art.

To the extent permitted by law, the National Gallery of Art waives any copyright or related rights that it might have in this dataset and is releasing this dataset under the Creative Commons Zero designation.

The dataset provides data records relating to the 130,000+ artworks in our collection and the artists who created them. You can download the dataset free of charge without seeking authorization from the National Gallery of Art.

The dataset is published in CSV format and uses UTF-8 encoding. A data dictionary fully describes the dataset.

Additional usage guidelines

Images and media files are not included in the dataset.

While links and references to images and other media (such as audio and video files) are contained in this dataset, such images and media files are not included in this dataset or the open data program described above.

Our collection data is in constant flux.

Our collection management is a process in continuous motion and therefore the dataset released through this open data program may not be entirely complete, correct, or up to date. This dataset is provided “as is”, is updated frequently (usually once a day), and should be used at your own risk. The National Gallery of Art makes no representations or warranties of any kind. If you notice erroneous data in our public dataset, please let us know.

Why are Wikidata Identifiers included in this dataset?

In 2018, the National Gallery of Art began a program with the Wikimedia Foundation to donate open-access images and data to Wikimedia platforms. In 2022, known Wikidata Identifiers were reconciled with the National Gallery’s collections management system, and this dataset now includes Q-item values for associated Wikidata records. These associated values should not be considered exhaustive and new Wikidata Idenifiers will be added over time as the data is refreshed. These associated Wikidata Identifiers are intended as useful, stable identifiers for open data research questions and experiments.

Example: Q230673, Dorothea Lange (photographer)

The National Gallery welcomes and encourages everyone to explore, enjoy, share, use, re-use, and build with its collection on Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata.

Please consider citing the National Gallery of Art.

Please consider providing attribution to or citing the National Gallery of Art's Collection Dataset when using this data for research purposes, but please do not use the National Gallery of Art's logo or make any representation, express or implied, that the National Gallery of Art endorses your work without first acquiring our prior written permission to do so.

This statement was last updated in April 2021. We thank our colleagues across the museum community for inspiration and support in formulating this policy, especially the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its excellent open access policy.