BBC Your Paintings

Your Paintings is a joint initiative between the BBC, the Public Catalogue Foundation (a registered charity) and participating collections and museums from across the UK that aims to show the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings and where to see them for real.

SEARCH WORK BY 40,000 ARTISTS

Made up of paintings from thousands of museums and other public institutions around the country, Your Paintings will eventually showcase works by nearly 40,000 artists from Britain and other countries around the world. Visitors to the site can participate in the initiative by tagging paintings, so that others can easily find the ones that they are looking for, or by contributing expert knowledge. Search the collection by what's in the painting or by the artist's name to find pieces and information relating to them. A dedicated ‘Artists' section lets you browse all featured works in an artist's oeuvre and learn more about the artist's life and artistic goals.

GUIDED TOURS

If you're looking for a collection in your area, simply go the area marked ‘Galleries and Collections' where you can search by county for institutions participating and soon-to-be-participating in the initiative. A fantastic extra to the site can be found under Guided Tours where leading figures in entertainment and arts, including Alistair Sooke, Mary Beard and Frank Skinner have created slideshow guides to some of their personal highlights from the nation's collection. Your Paintings offers an easily accessible and enlightening way to enjoy Britain's fabulous art collections whatever your age or prior knowledge.

13th July 2011