aixcentric

Claude Monet, Soleil couchant sur la Seine à Lavacourt, effet d’hiver, 1880, huile sur toile, 101,5 x 150 cm, Petit Palais, musée des Beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris, CC0 Paris Musées / Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais / Claude Monet

The fourteen Musées de la Ville de Paris have just put online, for free use, 100,000 of their works, including some by Monet, Modigliani, Delaunay and Rembrandt.  For anyone teaching or studying or writing about French art, this high-definition digital access is a major step.

Certainly when I was writing my book ‘Art in the South of France’, getting permission to use any images in France was a major, major headache, source of frustration and big waste of time.  I couldn’t understand why often-empty museums couldn’t supply just one token image to help publicise their galleries.  The background to all this is that artists’ families own copyright until 70 years after their death (so includes Picasso, Leger, Matisse etc), then the copyright passes to either photographers or the state agency, both  of whom charge not inconsiderable fees. My salvation came in the form of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY which, with some other American institutions, adopted ‘Open Content’.  In Europe, the Rijksmuseum has followed suit, and now from this month these 14 Parisian galleries.  They are doing it to improve access to art and culture, but also to publicise their collections in France and internationally.  Good for them!

Details and link here: https://www.connaissancedesarts.com/peinture-et-sculpture/monet-modigliani-delaunay-plus-de-100%e2%80%89000-oeuvres-des-musees-de-paris-accessibles-en-ligne-gratuitement-11131285/?xtor=EPR-3228

Thanks to Liz for giving me a heads-up on this!