How do you decide which artworks are similar?

Each work is embedded as a 1024-dimensional vector by a multimodal vision-language model, and similarity is the cosine distance between those vectors. Works rank as similar when their visual and semantic content overlaps, not because they share catalogue fields.

Can I find artworks similar to a specific painting?

Yes. Search for the work, open its artwork page, and use the visually similar works grid there. Every artwork page on the site has one.

Is this the same as browsing by movement or artist?

No, and that is the point. Browsing by artist or movement follows how the collection is catalogued. Similarity search follows how the works actually look, which regularly crosses period and national boundaries.

Does it work for drawings and prints, not just paintings?

Yes. The index covers the whole NGA open-access dataset, including drawings, prints, photographs, and sculpture, so a search for a drawn or printed quality returns those media too.

Which museum collection does Retrievals search?

The National Gallery of Art open-access collection in Washington, D.C., 68,816 objects released under Creative Commons Zero.

Yes. Retrievals is free to use with no account or subscription required.

What languages can I search in?

Retrievals accepts natural-language queries in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. The semantic index is language-agnostic.

Does Retrievals save my searches?

No accounts and no saved searches. Results may restore in the same browser tab for up to 12 hours via session storage, but nothing is stored on a server.

Back to Search

Similarity Search

Find similar paintings
to one you already love

You have a work you like and want more of the same feeling. Describe what draws you to it (the light, the palette, the kind of scene) and Retrievals surfaces its visual neighbours across 68,000 works in the National Gallery of Art's open collection.

Describe the qualities you want more of

Try an example

How it works

Similarity here is measured in the same vector space that powers search. Every artwork is embedded by a multimodal model, so two works sit close together when they share visual and semantic content, regardless of whether they share an artist, a country, or a century.

That is a different answer from “more by this artist” or “more from this movement”. A Whistler nocturne can be nearer to a Japanese woodblock print than to another Whistler, and catalogue metadata will never tell you that.

Every artwork page on Retrievals carries its own precomputed grid of visually similar works, so you can start from one piece and keep walking outward through the collection.

Frequently asked questions

How do you decide which artworks are similar?: Each work is embedded as a 1024-dimensional vector by a multimodal vision-language model, and similarity is the cosine distance between those vectors. Works rank as similar when their visual and semantic content overlaps, not because they share catalogue fields.
Can I find artworks similar to a specific painting?: Yes. Search for the work, open its artwork page, and use the visually similar works grid there. Every artwork page on the site has one.
Is this the same as browsing by movement or artist?: No, and that is the point. Browsing by artist or movement follows how the collection is catalogued. Similarity search follows how the works actually look, which regularly crosses period and national boundaries.
Does it work for drawings and prints, not just paintings?: Yes. The index covers the whole NGA open-access dataset, including drawings, prints, photographs, and sculpture, so a search for a drawn or printed quality returns those media too.
Which museum collection does Retrievals search?: The National Gallery of Art open-access collection in Washington, D.C., 68,816 objects released under Creative Commons Zero.
Is Retrievals free?: Yes. Retrievals is free to use with no account or subscription required.
What languages can I search in?: Retrievals accepts natural-language queries in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. The semantic index is language-agnostic.
Does Retrievals save my searches?: No accounts and no saved searches. Results may restore in the same browser tab for up to 12 hours via session storage, but nothing is stored on a server.

Other ways to search

Find a Painting by Description

Describe what you remember: a mood, a scene, a colour, and find it across 68,000 National Gallery of Art works. No artist name or title needed.

Identify a Painting You Cannot Name

Work out what a painting is from what you can see. Describe the subject, setting, and mood to search 68,000 National Gallery of Art works by meaning, then check the catalogue record.

Or browse by movement

Dutch Golden Age Impressionism American Realism Romanticism

Loading editorial discovery…