PaintBox

Free images

Start from a beautiful free image.

Getting started is the hard part. A good base image is the fastest route to something you are proud of, so here are the best places to find one you can use commercially, with the license in one line.

Public domain and CC0

Museums, libraries and agencies that release images with no restrictions. Check the rights label on each item.

  • Smithsonian Open Access

    Art, natural history, portraits, objects and historic photographs from the Smithsonian museums.

    LicenseCC0 on items marked Open Access: use them for anything, no credit needed.

  • The Met Open Access

    Paintings, prints, textiles and objects from every era, in high resolution.

    LicenseCC0 on works marked Open Access; other works in the collection are not free to reuse.

  • Rijksmuseum

    Dutch Golden Age paintings, drawings, prints and photographs, with large downloads.

    LicensePublic-domain works are free to download and reuse; check the rights line on the item.

  • Art Institute of Chicago

    Paintings, prints and photographs, including Impressionist and modern work.

    LicenseCC0 on public-domain works; other works carry their own terms.

  • NASA Image and Video Library

    Space, planets, launches, Earth from orbit and astronaut photographs.

    LicenseGenerally not copyrighted, but check each item, and do not use NASA logos or imply NASA endorses you.

  • Library of Congress

    Historic photographs, posters, maps and prints, gathered into themed free-to-use sets.

    LicenseFree to use and reuse in the sets listed; check the rights statement on any other item.

  • NYPL Digital Collections

    Vintage maps, illustrations, posters and photographs of New York and beyond.

    LicenseItems marked public domain are free to use; filter the search to those.

  • USGS

    Landscapes, geology, wildlife, volcanoes and aerial and satellite imagery.

    LicenseMost USGS images are public domain; a few are credited to others, so read the caption.

  • NOAA Photo Library

    Oceans, coasts, weather, storms and marine life.

    LicenseMostly US government work in the public domain; credit shown on an image means check its terms.

Free photo sites

Modern photography you can use commercially without credit. Each site has its own limits.

  • Unsplash

    Polished landscape, travel, architecture and lifestyle photography.

    LicenseUnsplash License: commercial use, no credit needed, but you cannot resell the photo as it is.

  • Pexels

    Everyday photography across nearly every subject, plus free video.

    LicensePexels License: commercial use, no credit needed, with limits on identifiable people and unaltered resale.

  • Pixabay

    Photos, illustrations and vector art in one search.

    LicensePixabay Content License: commercial use, no credit needed, but you cannot sell the file unaltered.

Credit required (CC BY)

Free to use, including commercially, as long as you credit the creator the way they ask.

  • ESA/Hubble

    Galaxies, nebulae and star clusters from the Hubble Space Telescope.

    LicenseCC BY 4.0: free to use with a credit line to ESA/Hubble and the image credit shown on the page.

  • ESA/Webb

    Deep-field and infrared images from the James Webb Space Telescope.

    LicenseCC BY 4.0: free to use with a credit line to ESA/Webb and the image credit shown on the page.

  • Wikimedia Commons

    The widest mix of photographs, historic images, diagrams and artwork.

    LicenseEvery file has its own license, often CC BY or CC BY-SA, so read it on the file page.

One search box for openly licensed images from many of the sources above.

  • Openverse

    Finding openly licensed and public-domain images from many collections at once.

    LicenseEach result shows its own license; follow the link to the source and confirm it there.

Or make your own

No search needed: describe a base image and start from that.

  • Generate in PaintBox

    A base image made to order with the Bike4Mind image models, ready to edit as layers.

    LicenseTerms depend on the image model you pick; read them before using the result commercially.

Before you use one: Check the license on the image's own page before you use it. Avoid NC (non-commercial) and ND (no derivatives) licenses for commercial work. A recognizable person in a photo needs their consent.