Save on Wall Art with Free Photos and Prints

Artwork can change the look of a room dramatically, uplifting it from boring to beautiful. However, it often doesn’t come cheap and it can be a struggle to find the perfect picture (or two or more) to hang on a wall.

If you’ve scoured the shops (both bricks and mortar and online) and are still coming up empty, consider stock photography websites that offer quality images for less. When decorating on a super tight budget, or if you simply like a freebie (I mean, who doesn’t?), there are also sites that offer downloadable high resolution images for absolutely nada. Here are my five fave.

New Old Stock contains vintage photos from the public archives free of known copyright restrictions, ideal for displaying a bit of history in your home (think museum-style picture frames with extra wide matting).

Rawpixel claims to have the most diverse collection of stock photos. It provides access to royalty-free images, including vector graphics, prints (art, paintings and illustrations) and public domain content like this King Soloman’s seal from Les Liliacées (1805) by botanical illustrator Pierre-Joseph Redouté.

Pexels is one of the world’s most trafficked free stock photography websites and for good reason. Easily searchable, its vast collection is covered under the Creative Commons Zero licence, which means all images can be used for free for commercial and personal purposes.

Unsplash is updated daily with new images, so the chances are good that you’ll find something you like. While the search tool is the fastest way to find a specific picture, the very best are featured on the site’s homepage.

Pixabay offers more than 1.6 million images for download. The sheer volume can be overwhelming, especially if you have little time on your hands, though its categorization of images helps refine the search process. The Editor’s Choice is particularly helpful if you don’t have something specific in mind or you’re simply looking for inspiration.