Six free paint by numbers sheets to print at home, made from paintings that are in the public domain. Each PDF has two US Letter pages: the numbered outline, then the color key with a preview of the finished picture. They're sorted from the fewest areas to the most.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Johannes Vermeer, around 1665, Mauritshuis, The Hague. 190 areas, 24 colors. The easiest of the six. Large flat areas in the background and the headscarf, a handful of small ones around the eyes and the pearl.

Download Girl with a Pearl Earring (PDF, 473 KB)

Impression, Sunrise

Claude Monet, 1872, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. 317 areas, 24 colors. Mostly sky and water in a few blues and oranges. A good one for testing paint on your paper before something harder.

Download Impression, Sunrise (PDF, 499 KB)

The Starry Night

Vincent van Gogh, 1889, Museum of Modern Art, New York. 408 areas, 24 colors. The swirls become long curved bands, which are pleasant to fill. The village at the bottom is where the small areas are.

Download The Starry Night (PDF, 611 KB)

Sunflowers

Vincent van Gogh, 1888, National Gallery, London. 421 areas, 24 colors. Almost entirely yellows and ochres, so keep the color key next to you: numbers 1 to 12 look alike once on paper.

Download Sunflowers (PDF, 592 KB)

Water Lilies

Claude Monet, 1906, Art Institute of Chicago. 743 areas, 24 colors. Lots of medium areas and no hard edges. Takes a few evenings.

Download Water Lilies (PDF, 691 KB)

The Great Wave off Kanagawa

Katsushika Hokusai, around 1831. 1093 areas, 24 colors. The hardest one here. The foam breaks into many tiny areas; a fine brush or a sharp colored pencil helps.

Download The Great Wave off Kanagawa (PDF, 598 KB)

Printing it

Print at "Actual size" (or 100%), not "Fit to page", otherwise the margins shift. Ordinary 20 lb copy paper is fine for colored pencils, markers or gouache used fairly dry. Acrylic paint makes thin paper wrinkle; use cardstock of 200 g/m² (about 75 lb cover) or heavier, or mixed-media paper, which most home inkjets accept from the rear tray. If you want the outline bigger than letter size, a copy shop can enlarge page 1 to 11x17 in.

The color key gives each number a hex code and the share of the picture it covers. You don't need 24 tubes: mix from a basic set and keep a scrap of paper to test each color against the preview. Our color guide explains how the mixes work.

Painting it on canvas instead

A printed sheet is a good way to find out whether you like the activity. If you want the version that goes on a wall, the famous paintings collection has kits with a pre-printed canvas, premixed acrylics in numbered pots and brushes in several sizes. There is also a Monet collection.

Making one from your own photo

These sheets come out of the same free generator that's on this site, on the "Relaxed" detail setting. Upload any photo there and you get the same two-page PDF in a few seconds; the photo stays in your browser. If the result looks good, the custom kit turns it into a canvas with the paints matched to it, from $19.95.

Questions

Are these really free? Yes, no email needed. Print as many copies as you like for yourself, your family or a classroom.

Can I sell them? The paintings themselves are public domain, but please don't resell these PDFs as they are.

Why do some areas have tiny numbers stacked together? Where the original has fine detail (the foam in the Great Wave, the village in Starry Night) the outline keeps small areas. Paint them with the dominant color around them if you prefer; the picture won't suffer.

Will you add more? Yes. If there's a public domain painting you'd like, write to us through the contact page.