Want to sprinkle a little Van Gogh into your life? How about Monet? Degas and his eternal fascination with ballet (girls)? Toulouse-Latrec?

Waking Up, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has made 375,000 of its pieces available under a policy called Open Access, in collaboration with Creative Commons.

That’s a lot of links, but they’re important.

And it’s not only paintings, either. Costumes and armor grace this public-domain collection.

I for one find this dress remarkable. I’m glad I can look at it as much as I want without charge. Ah, for a 3D printer!

Emile Pingat, Ball gown (ca. 1864)

Here’s how to do it:

“You can access the unrestricted images through the Met’s website. As you search its collection, all you need to do is check off the “Public Domain Artworks” option under “Show Only.” You can also browse the selected works by selecting the “Metropolitan Museum of Art” filter on the Creative Commons site.” – My Modern Met

By checking only “Public Domain Artworks” and selecting no other criteria, the very first thing I see is this Annular Brooch from the 9th century. That’ll come in handy!

Irish Annular Brooch, 9th century, copper alloy

And by idly picking Anonymous, Italian, 16th century, I found these three gossips:

“Three Warriors After Raphael,” Anonymous, Italian, 16th century

I then climbed out of the 16th century and headed straight for Louis Comfort Tiffany. “Pen Rack,” the title says. That rapturous green! That intricate design! My pens should be so lucky.

Pen rack with a whole lot more things that I suddenly need, by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Happy searching!