To cite a piece of art, list the artist, title, date, medium, and location in the format required by your citation style.
Citing artwork can feel odd, because a painting or sculpture does not look like a usual print source. Once you know the pattern, you can reuse it for most pieces you meet in class.
This article shows how to cite artwork in MLA, APA, and Chicago. It explains which details to copy from labels or records and how to match in-text citations or notes to your final list.
How To Cite A Piece Of Art In Academic Papers
When you learn how to cite a piece of art, the aim is simple. The reader should know exactly which work you mean and where you saw it. Every major style asks for the artist’s name, the artwork title, the date, the medium, and some kind of location or source.
That location may be a museum and city, a private collection, a textbook title, a database, or a website. Styles differ in wording and punctuation, yet they draw on the same core building blocks.
Collect The Details Before You Start Citing
The fastest way to keep artwork citations accurate is to gather details while you are still looking at the piece. Copy what you need from the wall label, catalog entry, or online record before you move on.
| Detail | What To Record | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Artist | Full name as given by the museum or catalog | Vincent van Gogh |
| Title | Exact title, including punctuation and accents | The Starry Night |
| Date | Year or range; use “n.d.” when no date appears | 1889 |
| Medium | Materials and surface, such as “Oil on canvas” | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | Height × width (and depth, if needed) with units | 73.7 cm × 92.1 cm |
| Location | Museum or collection name and city | Museum of Modern Art, New York |
| Source Type | Where you viewed the work: gallery, book, database, site | Museum website |
| Online Details | Stable URL or database name and record number | https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79802 |
Many library guides summarise current MLA and APA artwork rules and match recent editions of the style manuals. Checking one trusted page helps you confirm that your pattern for titles, dates, and brackets still fits the handbook your instructor expects.
Citing Artwork In MLA Style
MLA style, used in many literature and humanities courses, treats a painting, sculpture, or photograph as a work of visual art. You list the artist as the author, italicise the title, give the date, and then name the institution or collection and the city.
Guidance based on the MLA Handbook and the MLA Style Center shows the same pattern for artwork in exhibitions and permanent collections. The exhibition title can appear as a container when the show itself is your main source of information.
MLA Works Cited Entry For Artwork In A Museum
Start with this model when you viewed the piece in person:
Artist Last Name, First Name. Title of Artwork. Year, Medium, Museum Name, City.
Example:
van Gogh, Vincent. The Starry Night. 1889, Oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
If the artwork has no date, use “n.d.” in place of the year. For a private collection, write “Private collection” and include the city when you know it.
MLA Works Cited Entry For Artwork Viewed Online
When you saw the artwork on a museum or gallery site, MLA treats that page as the container. You add the site title and the URL after the museum details:
Artist Last Name, First Name. Title of Artwork. Year, Medium, Museum Name, City. Website Title, URL.
Example:
Hokusai. The Great Wave off Kanagawa. 1831, Woodblock print, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Met Collection, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45434.
MLA In-Text Citation For A Piece Of Art
In MLA, in-text citations for artwork follow the same pattern used for books. You give the artist’s last name and, when useful, a short italicised title, with the option to drop the name from the parentheses if it already appears in your sentence.
- (van Gogh, The Starry Night)
- As seen in van Gogh’s The Starry Night, the swirling sky dominates the scene.
Citing A Piece Of Art In APA Style
APA style treats artwork as a visual work and lists the artist as the author. You place the date in parentheses after the name, italicise the title, add a description of the medium in square brackets, and close with the museum or collection and the city and country. For online images, you add the site name and the URL.
The official APA examples for artwork references show this format for paintings, sculptures, photographs, and many other art forms. The description in brackets should name the medium or format clearly, such as “[Oil on canvas]” or “[Photograph]”.
APA Reference List Entry For A Painting
A standard APA reference for a painting seen in a museum looks like this:
Artist Last Name, Initials. (Year). Title of artwork [Medium]. Museum Name, City, Country.
Example:
van Gogh, V. (1889). The starry night [Oil on canvas]. Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States.
When the date is unknown, use “n.d.” in the date slot. For a private collection, replace the museum name with “Private collection”, adding the city if it appears in your source.
APA Reference For Artwork Viewed Online
For artwork viewed online, APA asks you to give the site name and URL as well:
Artist Last Name, Initials. (Year). Title of artwork [Medium]. Museum Name, City, Country. Site Name. URL.
Example:
O’Keeffe, G. (1936). Summer days [Oil on canvas]. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, United States. Whitney Museum of American Art. https://whitney.org/collection/works/464.
APA In-Text Citation For Artwork
Use the artist’s last name and the year in parentheses, or place the name in the sentence and keep the year in brackets. You normally do not need page or figure numbers unless your instructor asks for them.
- (van Gogh, 1889)
- In van Gogh’s 1889 painting The Starry Night, the village sits below the sky.
Citing A Piece Of Art In Chicago Style
Chicago style offers two systems: notes and bibliography, and author date. For artwork, art history courses often favour the notes and bibliography format, with full details in a first footnote and a shortened form in later notes.
Chicago guidance from academic libraries shows a steady pattern. You name the artist, give the title in italics, supply the date and medium, and name the museum or collection and city, with site and URL details added for online images.
Chicago Notes And Bibliography Entry For Artwork
A first footnote for an artwork may look like this:
1. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
The matching bibliography entry can read:
van Gogh, Vincent. The Starry Night. 1889. Oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Chicago Author-Date Citation For Artwork
If you use the author-date system, the reference list entry resembles APA but uses Chicago punctuation:
van Gogh, Vincent. 1889. The Starry Night. Oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
In the text, you cite the artist and the year:
- (van Gogh 1889)
- In The Starry Night, van Gogh (1889) paints the sky with sweeping strokes.
Comparison Of Artwork Citation Patterns Across Styles
Once you see MLA, APA, and Chicago side by side, it becomes easier to switch styles between classes. Use this table as a quick reminder while you draft and edit.
| Style | Reference List Pattern | In-Text Or Note Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| MLA | Artist. Title. Year, Medium, Museum, City. | (Artist Last Name, Title) |
| APA | Artist. (Year). Title [Medium]. Museum, City, Country. | (Artist Last Name, Year) |
| Chicago Notes | Artist, Title, Year, Medium, Museum, City. | Footnote with full or short form |
| Chicago Author-Date | Artist. Year. Title. Medium. Museum, City. | (Artist Last Name Year) |
Special Cases For Art Citations
Not every artwork fits the neat pattern of a titled painting in a gallery. Public sculptures, untitled pieces, student work, and images that you only see in teaching materials need slight adjustments, but the same core details still anchor each reference.
Untitled Artwork
If the piece has no title, describe it in brackets where the title would usually appear, such as “[Portrait of a seated woman]”. You still list the artist, date, medium, and location in the form required by your chosen style.
Artwork In Slides Or Learning Platforms
When the only version of the artwork you see appears in a slide deck or online classroom space, treat that slide deck or course page as the source. In APA, the instructor becomes the author of the presentation, while MLA and Chicago can treat the presentation as a container.
Public Art And Outdoor Works
For a sculpture or mural installed in a public square, you still give the artist, work title, date, medium, and city. If there is no museum, name the square, building, or street instead, following the public art examples shown in many Chicago style guides.
Keeping Art Citations Under Control
Citation rules can feel like a distraction when you are trying to write about colour, line, and composition. A short routine keeps both tasks under control while you answer your assignment question about how to cite a piece of art.
- Keep one notes page, document, or spreadsheet with every artwork’s details gathered from labels, catalogs, and museum sites.
- Group references by style so that MLA, APA, and Chicago entries stay separate and easy to scan.
- Draft the works cited, reference list, or bibliography entries early, then plug your in-text citations or notes into that structure.
- Check every image caption and paragraph that discusses a work of art to confirm that names, titles, and years match your final entries.
Quick Checklist Before You Turn In Your Assignment
Use this checklist once your draft is ready. It keeps your focus on clarity and consistency, which markers notice quickly.
- You have chosen one style, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago, and used it the same way all the way through.
- Every artwork that appears in the text also appears in the works cited, reference list, or bibliography, unless your instructor gave different instructions.
- Each entry includes the artist’s name, artwork title, date, medium, and location, plus site or database details for online images.
- Titles are italicised in both the body and the final list, and capitalisation follows the rules for the style you selected.
- You have not guessed missing dates or locations; “n.d.” and “Private collection” appear only when your source omits that detail.
- Your in-text citations or notes match each reference entry and use the same spelling, title, and year.
- The main assignment question about how to cite a piece of art is answered clearly enough that another student could copy your format with confidence.