Works by Frida Kahlo and Henri Matisse Enter the Public Domain
A wealth of art and literature, from the work of Robert Capa to Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, is now available for public access in the US and elsewhere.
Happy Public Domain Day! Starting today, January 1, you can legally access, adapt, remix, and republish (depending on your jurisdiction) works by Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, and Robert Capa, as well as certain texts by William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and Ernest Hemingway, among others.
In the United States, the copyright term surrounding commissioned works is 95 years, so films and books that were published in 1929 are up for grabs. One of our favorite resources is Public Domain Review journal's annual advent countdown calendar, which highlights a month's worth of significant contributions to literature as well as visual and performing arts that have joined the public domain in 2025.
In countries that abide by the "life plus 70 years" copyright term, such as the United Kingdom and parts of Europe and South America, the works of celebrated French artist Henri Matisse, Swedish sculptor Carl Eldh, and Mexican Surrealist Frida Kahlo, who died in 1954, are now in the public domain. In the United States, where “the provisions of copyright law dealing with duration are complex," a spokesperson for the US Copyright Office told Hyperallergic, "it is important to consult with a copyright attorney before reaching any conclusions regarding the copyright status of a work."
Kahlo is better known for her confrontational self-portraits where she rendered herself with a serious expression and signature unibrow, often regarded as a branch of magical realism. Though her likeness has been commercially exploited and regurgitated on an astronomical scale, distorting if not completely dismissing her messages and lived experiences, having her life's work enter the hands of the people at last through the public domain seems most in line with her socialist and anti-capitalist ideologies and activism.
While Kahlo's work has hit the public domain in some countries, one should remember that elements of her identity and likeness have been trademarked by her family and estate through the Frida Kahlo Corporation before starting their side hustle in selling resin iPhone cases with her face and the words "Viva la vida" on them.
"Once a work enters the public domain, it can generally be used freely — this is copyright law’s way of recognizing that creators only get a limited amount of time to hold exclusive rights to their work before they become available to the public," said Laura Ricciardi, who teaches art law for the Arts Management program at SUNY Purchase in addition to providing legal counsel to visual and performing artists, in an interview with Hyperallergic.
"However, elements within that work might be protected by other legal mechanisms beyond copyright," Ricciardi clarified. "For example, if Frida Kahlo’s estate has trademarked the use of her name on coffee mugs, a person who is producing coffee mugs using one of Kahlo’s paintings as well as her name, might be liable for trademark infringement based on the use of her name, even if there’s no copyright problem with regards to the painting."
Ricciardi also acknowledged the right to publicity, which she said pertains to "commercial profit based on a person’s name or likeness."
"Kahlo is an interesting artist to think about in this context, because she frequently made self-portraits and, in many cases, the work itself is intertwined with her likeness and persona," Ricciardi explained. "This makes the question of parsing out the right to publicity crucial, and also a little tricky. And of course, all aspects of intellectual property, whether we’re talking about copyright, trademark, or right to publicity here, are balanced by First Amendment concerns."
The photography of 20th-century photojournalist, combat documentarian, and Magnum Photos co-founder Robert Capa has had its copyright protections lifted as well. The Hungarian-born photographer's candid snapshots of five international wars and critical captures of vital moments in political history are relevant now more than ever, as millions of people have the ability to document and expose the disarray and destruction around them.
Equally timely is Capa's documentation of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War as well as the early foundations of Israel between 1948–1950. Some scholars have argued that Capa contributed to the canonical erasure of Palestine, because his photos presented an idealized and triumphant image of Israel's development while omitting any references to the forced expulsion and dispossession of Palestinians known as the Nakba, or "catastrophe" in Arabic.
In the literary category, American novelist William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (1929), which continues to confound millions of high school students annually, is now freely accessible. Rest assured that while you'll be thrown for a loop by Faulkner's signature stream-of-consciousness style, the novel will definitely make you feel a lot better about your own family dynamics if your holidays were anything less than cheery. On another note, the wartime love story A Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway (coincidentally pictured above) is within reach as well.
Virginia Woolf reigns supreme for the third Public Domain Day in a row — this time with "A Room of One's Own" (1929), an extended essay in which she stresses that women's financial and intellectual independence are crucial prerequisites for freedom of expression in literary or other creative pursuits. Coining the famous line "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction," Woolf's revolutionary essay, emerging in relevance once again, asks what women would be able to achieve if not saddled by their societal roles as caregivers, child-bearers, and homemakers.
This is one to keep close to your heart as we brave the next four years together.
Lastly, Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1929), compiled from a series of his weekly Navjivan journal entries between 1925–1929, is now in the public domain — as is the autobiographical novel Daughter of Earth (1929) by American writer and journalist Agnes Smedley, whose career included activism in support of the Indian Independence movement as well as Chinese Communist Revolution.
As we hurtle toward a future full of absurdities and atrocities, Public Domain Day is as good of a time as any to take a look at what came before us and reappropriate that knowledge in contemporary contexts.
So, with that in mind, we wish you a Happy Public Domain Day — and Happy New Year!
Editor's note 1/7/2024 5:28pm EST: A previous version of this article stated that works by Henri Matisse and Frida Kahlo are now in the public domain in the United States based on the "life plus 70 years" copyright term. These works are in the public domain in other countries where this rule applies. In the US, copyright law states that most works first published before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. The article has been updated with a quote from the US Copyright Office about the uncertainty regarding copyright status for works of visual art.
