Where to find public domain posters

Artnap has 7,968 public domain posters from museum and library collections, in one list at artnap.com/posters. Each one can be saved as a JPEG up to 2,500 pixels with no watermark and no account. The page names the library or museum that holds the poster and links to its record.

Many of them are theater and cabaret bills from Paris or exhibition announcements. There is also a large group of recruiting posters from the First World War.

Where the posters come from

The Library of Congress is one of the largest sources. Its Prints and Photographs Division has scanned thousands of posters, and many of them have no known restrictions. The library explains the phrase in its rights guide. "No known restrictions on publication means that the Library is unaware of any restrictions on the use of the image." Source: Library of Congress. On Artnap each of these links back to the library's catalog record.

The Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art also hold strong poster collections. Both use CC0. The National Gallery of Art adds a smaller group. Polona is the digital library of the National Library of Poland, and it adds Polish posters.

Many French posters on Artnap come through Wikimedia Commons. One example is the Folies-Bergère bill that Alfred Choubrac drew in 1890.

Finding a poster by subject or color

One search on Artnap reaches the Library of Congress and the French bills on Wikimedia Commons in the same list of results. A search for a city, an event or an artist returns posters next to paintings and prints. The color pages help when a poster has to match a room or a design.

Before you print

Check the license line on the poster's page. Works marked public domain or CC0 can be used for any purpose. Copyright terms differ between countries, and the page says where the poster is in the public domain. For large prints Artnap Pro adds the master file supplied by the library or museum.