How to Find Your Favorite Artwork at the Museum

Have you ever fallen in love with a work of fine art? Think about the art you see in pop culture: Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" or Rodin's sculpture "The Thinker"

Where can you go to see these pieces in person? If you do not live in a major city with a large, well-funded museum, chances are you would need to travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles to see your favorite Picasso, your beloved Rembrandt, your inspirational sculpture by Michaelangelo.

But let's say you are a traveler, or you are planning a special trip to a city that houses some fine art treasures. How do you know what museums to visit? Are your favorite works even on display in a museum? Navigating the fine art world can be frustrating - artwork travels all over the world in special exhibitions so that more of the public can be exposed to some of the finest examples by the most renowned artists. Visiting the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam does not guarantee that you will see "Starry Night", so do your homework!

Step 1 - What is the artwork you are looking for?

First you'll need to identify the artist and name of the piece you love. If you know either of those pieces of information, you are on the right track. A search on one of the major search engines will help you either find the name of the artist, or websites about the artist where you can see their works and find the one you are looking for. If not, think about where you saw the piece. Was it in a magazine, on television, or on a greeting card? Try going back to the source of where you saw it, and see if you can get more information.

If that is not possible, and you don't know anything about the piece, there are a few things you can try. First is a forum like Art Conversation www.artconversation.com/questions/. There are many free on line forums like this where you can write a description of the piece and others with knowledge on the subject can reply and help you identify works of art.

If that doesn't prove to be fruitful try a service like Askville, powered by Amazon http://askville.amazon.com/. It is a large, general question and answer forum that is checked often by people from all disciplines.

Step 2 - Where is it located?

There is no single database for artwork where you can easily type in an artist and find instantly what museum or collection the work is in.

However, there are some websites that can help. Some are art archive sites, while many others are art licensing sites. They help filmmakers, authors, and museum curators locate artwork to be licensed and used in various ways. Here are four sites to try when locating a piece. Don't be discouraged if the first few do not help - each search is different and each archive is different. Try them all for best results.

Scholars Resource http://www.scholarsresource.com/
Art Resource http://www.artres.com
Artcyclopedia http://www.artcyclopedia.com/
Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu/

Step 3 - Will it be there when I'm there?

Once you have identified where the piece lives, do a search for that particular museum. Many museums are starting on line archives of their holdings, but if that particular one has not, email or call them to confirm that the piece will be on display when you are there. If the piece is part of a traveling exhibition, ask the museum for the name of the exhibit and what museums it will be visiting.

This should help you to identify and locate works of art that you wish to see while traveling. Smart web searches are invaluable, and this guide will help you to focus your search to some of the best sites for art research.