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The Museum collections feature lets you explore thousands of open-access artworks from three renowned institutions—the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art—right inside Create Spot. Use it to find inspiration, study styles, or discover works by theme, medium, or time period.

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Where the art comes from

The museum collections draw from three world-class institutions, each of which makes their collection data publicly available through open-access programs:
  • Art Institute of Chicago — One of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, with a collection spanning 5,000 years of art.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art — Renowned for its encyclopedic collection, with a strong commitment to open access for all artworks.
  • National Gallery of Art — The nation’s art museum in Washington, D.C., housing one of the finest collections of Western art.

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How to search and browse

The museums page offers several ways to discover art:
  • Keyword search — Searches across artwork titles and descriptions to help you find pieces by subject, theme, or artist.
  • Museum filter — Lets you narrow results to one or more of the three collections.
  • Medium filter — Focuses on specific materials like oil on canvas, watercolor, photography, or sculpture.
  • Style and genre filter — Helps you explore by artistic movement or category, such as landscapes, portraits, or abstract art.
  • Date range — Lets you browse art from specific time periods by setting a start and end year.
Combine filters and search terms to refine results. The URL updates as you change filters so you can bookmark or share a particular view.

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Viewing artworks

Artworks appear in a responsive grid that loads more as you scroll (infinite scroll). Hover over any artwork to see its title, artist, and museum at a glance. Click to open a lightbox with the high-resolution image and detailed metadata, including:
  • Artist
  • Date
  • Medium
  • Dimensions
  • Culture
  • Credit line
From the lightbox you can move to the previous or next artwork and use the link to the original museum page for further exploration.

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About open access

All artworks shown in the museum collections are sourced from open-access programs offered by each museum. These institutions make images and data about their collections freely available for creative, educational, and personal use. Create Spot credits each museum and links back to the original source for every artwork.

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See also

  • Prompts — Weekly prompts and how to submit and browse prompt-based work.