Fine Art: Learn, Look, and Buy

The Smithsonian Institute ’s Art and Design page allows you to survey works from all the museums that comprise the Institute’s Washington, DC complex. In addition to learning about artists and exhibitions, you can utilize education resources such as “Ask Joan of Art” or get the insider’s perspective in “Eye Level,” the Smithsonian Institute blog.

The BBC Arts Page provides articles, online galleries, information, and activity features that are valuable whether you're a novice or an art maven. It provides a solid sampling of what's going on in the art world, activities for kids and teenagers, articles, reviews, and videos if you're interested in deepening your knowledge.

The Art Institute of Chicago 's Art Access feature allows you learn about pieces in the museums in terms of content, style, and historical content. It also offers lesson plans and learning material for school children.

Artcyclopedia is a database of art available on the Internet. You can conduct searches for works of art, artists, and museums. Beyond just images, the site also provides educational information. Links to free Encyclopedia Britannica articles are available for many artists, and on the left sidebar you can access a glossary and a feature called “Today in Art History.”

Grove Art Online is an award-winning art history resource database. The site contains over 45,000 scholarly articles, 3,000 images, and links to relevant sources. Unfortunately, individual subscriptions are $29.95 a month. However, your university, library, or employer may have a subscription, and if not, it’s eligible for a free trial.

AskArt.com is a resource for information about more than 50,000 American artists. Beyond just providing information about artists, it has resources for learning about the art market and artistic movements.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC offers much of its collection online. Furthermore, you can take an in-depth study tour on artists, works of art, and themes.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art displays 6,500 pieces in its collection online. In addition, the site hosts eight online-only features, some of which are directed at children, others at adults. For example, check out the museum director's 25 favorite pieces.

The Museum of Modern Art has a database of the 6,000 works in the museum’s online collection. You can browse the collection or search for a specific piece. Additionally, MoMA makes some special exhibitions available online.

The Guggenheim Museum , another New York museum devoted to modern art, is famous for the expansive spirals of the Frank Lloyd Wright building it calls home. But if you can't manage a visit, you can still view pictures of the building, and many of the pieces in the collection online. You can search the whole online gallery or look through directories divided by categories such as artist, date, movement and medium.

The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is dedicated to presenting European drawing, painting, and sculpture in addition to American and European photography. In the “Explore Art” section of the museum’s Web site, you can search by artist, type of art, or subject of a painting. Unfortunately, only small thumbnails are available, but you can still read and learn about each piece.

The Louvre , famous home to works such as the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, is located in Paris, but many of its great works can be viewed from your home. Visit the department overview page to search for artwork. Be warned that the print is tiny and a bit hard to read, but if you're patient you’ll enjoy images of and commentary on some of the world's most famous art.

The Tate displays British art from the 16th century to present via four museums, the two most famous of which are the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern. Visit those sites, or check out the organization's online collection of 65,000 works.

The British Museum in London, committed to a comprehensive representation of ancient and modern culture through art, is free to visitors but if you can still can't get there, check out the collection online. You can search through images in a particular collection or by key word. Each image has a description and explanation, making the site a useful education source.

The State Hermitage Museum occupies six buildings on the River Neva in St. Petersburg, Russia, but you can view some of the collection right from your home by visiting the Virtual Exhibitions. You can browse the collection or check out paintings grouped together by designated themes. The section titled "The Exhibit" analyzes a few works.

SpanishArts.com posts a selection of the best works at El Prado Museum in Madrid. Select an artist and view one or more works in the museum’s collection. The Web site is a little ugly and not complete, but it will provide images you might not see otherwise. The museum has its own site as well, although the collection is not available online.

The Saatchi Gallery 's site provides the "Museums Around the World" page, which lists names and links for most any world museum you'd want to visit or explore online. If you don't find what you're looking for on the above list, chances are it's on The Saatchi Gallery site. And while you're there, you can explore the Gallery itself, which promotes contemporary art by established and new artists.

Artcyclopedia , also featured in the "Find Art Galleries" section of this guide, provides links to worldwide museums and lets you search by continent. While most of the museums you've heard of are probably listed above, you might not know that Japan has about a dozen museums with collections available online. The site provides a real chance to discover artwork you might not find elsewhere.

MuseumStuff.com is not as easy to use as the Saatchi or Artcyclopedia sites, but it covers less famous museums in small American towns. It's a good site if you know exactly what you want, whether it's a specific museum or a type of art. Choose a movement or medium, then sort through the alphabetized list of museums.

The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and database of European painting and sculpture from the 12th to mid-19th centuries. You can search for artists alphabetically and even send an e-postcard of any image you find.

The 24 Hour Museum has a continually updated section on current museum and gallery exhibitions that are available online. The Web site itself, a "virtual museum," is based in the United Kingdom, but the online exhibits are drawn from all over the world (and can be viewed from anywhere in the world, too).

ArtsJournal is your online source for arts news compiled from over 200 newspapers and e-zines. The journal posts top stories on the homepage and features a variety of blogs. The huge amount of information makes the page a bit busy, but you're almost guaranteed to get the full report on daily art news.

Artforum is the online version of the print magazine by the same name. Special online features include "ArtGuide," which lets you search for art events all over the world and even places to eat and sleep while you're visiting. Or you can just read all the art news and reviews you'd get in the paper version. The site also links to Bookforum, a similar site for book reviews and literary news.

ARTnews , the "oldest and most widely circulated art magazine in the world," makes a few articles from each issue available online. And you can get the full table of contents from current and past issues. You can also subscribe to the magazine or search for a newsstand in your area.

Frieze is Europe's leading contemporary art and culture magazine and contains reviews, columns and features concerning the worldwide art scene. The site also provides information about the Frieze Art Fair, which happens in London and features over 150 top galleries. Although based in Europe, the magazine provides a great deal of insight and information on the global art scene.

The National Museum of Women in the Arts produces an online magazine that highlights the achievements of women in the arts. The magazine reports on a combination of current artists, historical figures, and trends in women's history.

Paint Magazine is a source for all news, reviews, gallery, and museum listings for African American art. Visit to stay updated on featured exhibits, festivals, artists, and culture.

The Latin American Folk Institute publishes the online journal, Clave, devoted to Latin American art news. Clave publishes articles, reviews, and interviews relating to the Latin American community at large and also reports on events at the Institute. Although largely focused on music and folklore, it's a good place to stay current on anything that might be going on in the visual arts world.

Minerva is the International Review of Ancient Art and Archaeology. The whole magazine is available online and features news and book reviews from the world of ancient art.

Yishu is an academic journal of contemporary Chinese art. It prints news, information about exhibitions and events, and reviews.

Bidoun is a self-described platform for dialogue on Middle Eastern arts and culture. The magazine offers art-related news articles, profiles, and reviews. The online version is available with select content.

PicassoMio.com is a well-regarded online art gallery that carries over 40,000 pieces of artwork. If you're new to Internet art purchasing, the site's best feature is a guide to buying art online. If you're more experienced, you'll benefit from the easy-to-browse site, free membership, and extensive collection.

Buy-Original-Art.com has two particularly useful features. First, you can select the "Art Galleries" tab at the top of the screen and browse through a directory of galleries categorized alphabetically or by type of gallery. You can also search a directory of online galleries. Once you've found sites you like, join Artbuzzer, the site's art community where you tag sites and share them, or bookmark them and keep them a secret.

Art-mine.com is a comprehensive online fine art resource, managed by the Agora Gallery in New York City. You can browse art by medium or use the alphabetized directory of artists' portfolios.

Sotheby's may be one of world's best-known auction houses, but there may be things you still want to learn. Whether you want to research the company's history, find out where to pick up your auction paddle, or get an estimated auction value of your current collection, the resources are on the Web site. Also visit the site to check out what's being auctioned in the future.

Christie's is another famous auction house. If you can't make it to one of their worldwide locations, you can view the collections and place absentee bids online. If you click the "Sale Categories" tab at the top of the screen you can browse through an alphabetical list of past and current auction items. Don't miss the teddy bear going for $180,000.

Art-Collecting.com provides a list of many other auction houses beyond the two listed above. The site lists auctions houses all over the world in addition to houses that specialize, such as the rare book auction house. You can connect directly to homepages from the site.

eBay is an online auction service that most people are familiar with as a place to sell unwanted furniture or sports tickets, but it's also a site where you can buy art. This link takes you directly to eBay's art page.

Art.com sells posters and prints to help you decorate your home at a reasonable price. You can search for a specific kind of décor, or you can select famous artists and look for prints of their popular paintings.

AllPosters.com has many of the same features as Art.com, but also features sections on music and entertainment posters. For fine art prints, the site groups paintings by style rather than by artist.

ArtExpression.com sells primarily fine art posters and prints and has the look of an online art gallery. You can search by artist name, type, or style of artwork.