The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York just made a massive announcement: they will be making all 375,000 public domain works in its collection available online for artists around the world to use in whichever way they like.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York just made 375,000 public domain works available online for artists around the world to use in whichever way they like.
According to Met director Thomas P. Campbell, these particular 375,000 images represent the main body of the Met collection.
Another 65,000 works have also been digitised, despite not being public domain. To make this possible and spread its online reach, the Met joined forces partners ranging from Creative Commons, to Wikimedia and Pinterest.
“Our comprehensive and diverse museum collection spans 5,000 years of world culture,” Campbell said about the news. “Our core mission is to be open and accessible for all who wish to study and enjoy the works of art in our care. Increasing access to the museum’s collection and scholarship serves the interests and needs of our 21st-century audiences by offering new resources for creativity, knowledge, and ideas.”
The Met’s digital images are uploaded in high-resolution, with 4,000-pixel-wide photos now available for 200,000 works in the museum’s collections, or a total of 375,000 images.
At a press conference, Met Chief Digital Officer Loic Tallon said this allows viewers to zoom in closely on images to “really see the beauty.”
The Met is your oyster. Get crackin’.
[via Out]
