- The Library of Congress Winter set, from the 1600s to now
- Wikimedia Commons winter categories worth browsing
- Matching a winter image to the job
- Cleveland Museum of Art: winter and snow in CC0
- Snowflakes and winter clipart on Openclipart
- Getting a winter background ready to use
- My take on free winter backgrounds
- Frequently asked questions
For free winter backgrounds and clipart you can keep using in January and February, start with the Library of Congress Winter set, Wikimedia Commons, which had 3,027 files in its Winter category when I checked, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, which returned 210 CC0 images for winter and 110 for snow. For vector snowflakes and winter clipart, Openclipart's public domain SVG collection has the simplest licence of the lot.
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The Library of Congress Winter set, from the 1600s to now
The Library of Congress describes its Winter set as winter scenes from cold-weather and warm-weather places, from the 1600s to the present, mostly from its Prints & Photographs Division. It's part of its Free to Use and Reuse collection. The range is wider than you'd expect:
- Winter, a print by Joseph Morviller and L. Prang & Co., 1869
- Kameyama, Tokaido, a colour woodcut by Ando Hiroshige, between 1833 and 1836
- Winter, a poster by Penrhyn Stanlaws, and In Winter's Embrace, a pillow cover, both 1907
- Ice skating at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., photographed by Harris & Ewing in 1922
- Montreal Winter Carnival, February, by A. Major, 1884
- Winter sports, Pickerel Fishing, a Currier & Ives print from 1872
The warm-weather side is the surprise. The set includes a North Shore beach on Oahu, Hawaii, photographed in December 2005. If your audience is somewhere sunny in January, that's your winter picture.
Wikimedia Commons winter categories worth browsing
Commons is the deep end. When I checked, Winter held 3,027 files and 44 subcategories, Winter in art 562 files and 28 subcategories, the winter scenery category 426 files, and Snowflakes 109 files. There are no Winter backgrounds, Winter wallpapers or Snow backgrounds categories, so don't waste time searching for them.
The Snow category is a funny one. It held just 1 file but 87 subcategories, so the pictures are all one click down. Each file has its own licence, and some licences require a credit, the licence name or ShareAlike on edited versions, so read the file page before you use anything.
Matching a winter image to the job
| Job in January or February | Look for | Where |
|---|---|---|
| New-term flyer or January sale | Skaters, sledges, snowy streets | Library of Congress Winter set |
| Winter festival or carnival post | Carnival and toboggan prints | Library of Congress Winter set |
| Painterly slide background | Paintings of snow | Commons Winter in art, Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Snowflake clipart or icons | Vector snowflakes | Openclipart, Commons Snowflakes |
| Plain snow texture | Close-up snow | Commons Snow subcategories |
For close-ups of ice, frost and paper grain to sit behind text, my guide to free textures has more options.
Cleveland Museum of Art: winter and snow in CC0
The Cleveland Museum of Art's open access works marked CC0 don't need attribution or citation. When I searched its open access data for works with images, winter returned 210 results and snow 110. Those are artworks from the collection, which makes them lovely calm backgrounds for a quote card or a title slide.
Two limits are worth knowing. The museum says an artwork isn't open access if it hasn't been digitised yet, if it's under copyright or has restrictions from the artist, donor or lender, or if the museum doesn't fully own it. And citing a CC0 image doesn't give you permission to use the museum's trademarks, so don't make it look like an endorsement.
Snowflakes and winter clipart on Openclipart
Openclipart is a collection of more than 180,000 vector graphics, all in SVG, all released into the public domain, and it says you may use all of them even for unlimited commercial use. For winter clipart, that means vector graphics you can scale from a tiny icon to a window poster without losing sharpness, because SVG files can be scaled, edited or printed without deformation. Skip anything flagged pd_issue, which means its provenance is in doubt.
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Getting a winter background ready to use
- Pick the image on its item or file page and note the licence or rights line.
- Download the biggest version available.
- Crop for where it's going: wide for a slide or header, tall for a story or phone screen.
- Cool the colours slightly if your text is dark, or darken the image if your text is white.
- Save the credit details next to the file, even when they aren't required.
Want the picture on your own phone screen? Here are the wallpaper apps that make it easy. And if you also need snow-free year-round graphics, my free clip art guide covers the general sources.
My take on free winter backgrounds
I'd use the Library of Congress Winter set if you want something with character, because a Prang print or a 1922 skating photo stands out in a feed full of identical snow. I'd use Cleveland if you want a painting with no credit to manage. Skip Commons if you're in a hurry, because the best files are a few clicks down. And save your winter folder now, so it's ready on the first working day of January when everyone else is still searching.
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Frequently asked questions
Where can I get free winter backgrounds?
The Library of Congress Winter set, Wikimedia Commons, which had 3,027 files in its Winter category when checked, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, which returned 210 CC0 results for winter with images.
Where can I find free snowflake clipart?
Openclipart has public domain vector clipart in SVG that you can use commercially, and the Wikimedia Commons Snowflakes category held 109 files, each with its own licence.
Does Wikimedia Commons have a winter wallpapers category?
No. Winter wallpapers, Winter backgrounds and Snow backgrounds categories don't exist. Browse Winter, Winter in art, Snowflakes and the Snow subcategories instead.
Do I need to credit Cleveland Museum of Art winter paintings?
Not for works designated CC0. The museum says they don't require attribution, though citing them doesn't give permission to use its trademarks.
Is the Library of Congress Winter set only snowy scenes?
No. It covers winter in cold-weather and warm-weather places, including a December beach photo from Oahu, Hawaii, alongside prints, posters and skating photos.
