Public Domain Artwork for Spring

Today I wanted to talk about the vintage art that you saw when you visited my 2022 Spring Home Tour last week. Decorating with antique or vintage artwork is really trending in home decor right now, but honestly, I’m hooked and will likely be filling my home with vintage public domain artwork for years to come!

WHAT IS PUBLIC DOMAIN ARTWORK

Basically, public domain art is copyright free and can be used freely by anyone. And, the artist doesn’t have to be sourced. Which seems a real shame to me to not credit the artist’s work. But, legally, you don’t have to. If you do know the artist’s name or the name of the painting/artwork, you can simply do a search online and find the source to download it.

As of 1/1/22, artwork dating to 1926 or prior, is in the public domain and is free to use.

Doreen Cagno

But, did you know that you can search for “an image” online? I admit, I didn’t know how to do this until recently. This tip can come in handy if you see a piece of art online, but you don’t know the source.

HOW TO SEARCH FOR AN IMAGE ON THE INTERNET

• Take a screen shot of the art or the image you want to find.

• In the upper right hand corner of the Google Search Page you’ll see “Images”. Click on that.

• A camera icon will then appear in the search box. Click on the camera icon.

• That will bring up the option to either “Paste Image URL” or “Upload an Image”. Since I used a screenshot of my image, I uploaded the image. From there you can usually find a source (online art museum, Wikimedia Commons, etc. where you can download a high quality jpg of the art.

Public domain vintage art for spring

Now that you know how to find vintage art, I’m going to share the vintage artwork that I have in my home for spring, along with the sources to download and print yourself! Let’s start with the gorgeous art above my sofa. I actually found this piece by doing an image search like I showed you above. I believe I originally saw this painting on Pinterest, but there was no source information (the artist or date). So, I did an image search and found what I was looking for and a place to download this beautiful artwork!

Next, here’s the gallery wall of vintage art that I put together for spring.

1. Vintage Egg Print (from The Graphics Fairy).
2. Vintage Egg Print (from The Graphics Fairy).
3. “A Vast Summer Landscape” by Jacob Alberts.
4. “Portrait of a Lady in Profile” by Olga Boznanska (1894).
5. “Styrax officinale from Traité des Arbres et Arbustes que l’on cultive en France en pleine terre” by Pierre-Joseph Redouté.
6. “Berry Pickers” by Winslow Homer (1873).
7. “On the Dunes” by Anton Mauve.
8. “A Goose” by James Sowerby.

And, you may have spotted this sweet rabbit hanging above the range in my kitchen.

And, I’ve also curated a whole collection of vintage rabbit art that I’ll be sharing soon! I hope that this post has explained the concept of public domain art and how I find the vintage art I use in my home. I will say that I do spend quite a bit of time curating pieces that work together and that speak to me in some way. My favorite piece in the gallery wall is the woman with her hands together. She reminds me of my grandmother and I like to think she is praying. Rawpixel and Artvee are still my main sources to find vintage art.

more posts about vintage art in my home that you might find helpful!

How to Make a Gallery Wall with Vintage Art

How to Resize Public Domain Art to Fit Any Frame

Free Vintage Art Featuring Mothers

Vintage Beach Wall Art

Vintage Art Prints for Fall