Is Van Gogh's Irises public domain? Getty work and file rights

Short answer

Yes—Van Gogh’s 1889 Irises at the Getty has a supported public-domain record in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union.

The exact Getty image used here is separately marked CC0; this answer does not cover Kōrin’s irises screens or every painting of irises by Van Gogh.

Artwork copyright verdict

Irises: checked, with file-level limits

Last reviewed2 October 2026

A copyright and file-provenance answer for Getty 90.PA.20, not Ogata Kōrin’s irises screens or another Van Gogh iris painting.

01

Artwork copyright

The checked work is Getty 90.PA.20, begun in the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole garden in May 1889.

02

Physical object

The J. Paul Getty Museum owns the canvas. Its physical custody, conservation access and display decisions are separate from copyright and from the CC0 image record.

Open object record ↗

03

Exact image file

Getty’s exact collection record labels its object imagery public domain/CC0. The local file comes from that record’s named IIIF image, not from a search result or a different work titled Irises.

Work-level matrix

Jurisdiction checks

Not a worldwide claim

United Statessupported public-domain record

Getty records the painting’s submission to the 1889 Salon des Indépendants, and its museum bibliography identifies the illustrated de la Faille catalogue raisonné of 1928. The exact Getty item additionally releases its image under CC0. These facts are recorded for this canvas, not inferred from its creation date.

United Kingdompublic-domain term

The standard literary, dramatic, musical and artistic-work term in CDPA 1988 §12 is life plus 70 years. Van Gogh died in 1890; on that standard calculation this work was public domain from 1 January 1961. Moral rights and non-copyright restrictions are separate.

European Unionpublic-domain term

Directive 2006/116/EC applies a standard life-plus-70 term, calculated from 1 January after the relevant event. Van Gogh died in 1890; on that standard calculation this work was public domain from 1 January 1961. National moral-rights rules remain separate.

Source file record

One exact file, not blanket permission

Open source record ↗

Upstream

Getty IIIF image for object 90.PA.20, canvas 0b3696e1-4dd6-46fb-8494-e12aa719fb4d

Retrieved asset SHA-256

473a473b3c5084ba5300d3030b0562c81605920409ad7b59d5df84998c706500

Fetched asset SHA-256

473a473b3c5084ba5300d3030b0562c81605920409ad7b59d5df84998c706500

GeMarkt derivative

/blog/art-history/artwork-rights-van-gogh-irises.webp

Derivative SHA-256

95b9a0a2a7e338324d40be51e1685a34ccfad0f9d94ced231a183d544dca1afe

Dimensions / bytes

1800 × 1421 pixels · 752,642 bytes

Rights statement

Getty Open Content · CC0

Transformation

Getty 1,800-pixel IIIF JPEG converted to WebP; no resize, crop or colour edit.

Use guidance: The CC0 record applies to this Getty image. A conservation photograph, X-ray, video frame, publication page or another work titled Irises needs a separate check.

Practical use

• Copy, modify and use the exact Getty CC0 image, including commercially, while preserving its provenance internally.
• Identify the work as Getty 90.PA.20 so it is not confused with Kōrin or Van Gogh’s other iris paintings.
• Treat technical-imaging outputs and publication illustrations as separate files unless their own record says otherwise.

Evidence opened in this review

1. US Copyright Office: 17 U.S.C. §303 (law)
2. US Copyright Office: publication regulation (law)
3. UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 §12 (law)
4. UK IPO notice on digital images and contract terms (terms)
5. EU Directive 2006/116/EC (law)
6. EU DSM Directive Article 14 (law)
7. Getty object 90.PA.20 and CC0 image record (object)
8. Getty Museum Journal bibliography with de la Faille 1928 plate (publication)
9. Getty Open Content announcement naming Irises (terms)
10. Getty conservation project for this painting (object)

General information, not legal advice. Re-check the exact source record, local law and any contract that applies where you use the file.

Which Irises this answer covers

This guide is for Vincent van Gogh’s Irises at the J. Paul Getty Museum, object 90.PA.20, painted in the garden of the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in May 1889. It is not Ogata Kōrin’s Irises at Yatsuhashi screens, and it is not one of Van Gogh’s other iris paintings or bouquets.

The museum object number is essential because title-only search intent is ambiguous. A user who arrives looking for Kōrin should not inherit a Van Gogh file licence, and another Van Gogh canvas should not inherit the Getty’s CC0 record.

Work-level evidence

Getty records that Theo van Gogh submitted this painting to the Salon des Indépendants in September 1889. The museum’s scholarly bibliography also identifies the work in Jacob Baart de la Faille’s illustrated 1928 catalogue raisonné. Together with the exact item’s open-status record, those facts give a work-specific US trail rather than an inference from “painted in 1889.”

Van Gogh died in 1890, so the standard life-plus-70 economic term ended long ago in the UK and EU. Moral rights and other non-copyright restrictions remain separate, and the finding is not described as a worldwide guarantee.

Exact Getty file and CC0

Getty’s collection record states that images for this item are public domain under CC0. The local master was fetched from the item’s named IIIF image at 1,800 pixels wide, converted to WebP and left uncropped. The fetched asset and local derivative each have a SHA-256 in the panel.

CC0 on this item does not automatically cover every asset in the Getty ecosystem. The museum’s conservation project includes X-ray fluorescence images, ultraviolet material, video and documentary photography. Those are new files with their own records; this guide does not silently absorb them.

A close look at colour change

The painting is built from overlapping blades and petals rather than a single centred bouquet. One pale iris near the left breaks the field of violet forms, while a strip of orange marigolds closes the far edge. The unusual cropping makes the garden continue beyond all four sides.

Getty’s conservation research reports that some originally violet pigments have faded toward blue. This guide does not digitally “restore” that historical colour. It records the institution’s current open image as delivered and keeps interpretation of colour change separate from file transformation.

What to do before reuse

Save the Getty object permalink, IIIF asset URL, fetched hash and local conversion details together. If you use a technical image from the conservation project or another work titled Irises, create a new record.

The Van Gogh artist guide supplies broader context. The collection and wallpaper routes are different experiences and may use different production files; their existence is not evidence for this source image.