French National Library, the BnF, is allowing home office workers to brighten their video conferences with artistic desktop wallpapers.  © Anchiy / IStock.com
Cover Young man talking on the phone in his home office

As more and more countries are re-implementing lockdown measures, Zoom video conferences are once again becoming the norm -- that is if they weren't already. But some home office workers are not keen on showing their interior to their colleagues. And that's where France's national library, the BnF comes in, offering artistic desktop wallpapers to liven up your Zoom or Skype meetings.

What kind of background would you choose? A black and white photo showing Claude Monet in his studio or a sketch of an opera set by painter Pierre-Luc Charles Cicéri? You may want your colleagues to be treated to a view of a Jean-Baptiste Debret illustration rather than the clothes piling up in your messy bedroom.

Whatever your choice may be, the digital library of BnF is packed with iconographic documents that could give an artistic flair to your work or family digital gatherings. From press photographs, to etchings, advertising posters, wallpapers and medieval manuscripts, the choice is vast. To change your Google Meet, Skype or Zoom background, you just need to save the select BnF desktop wallpapers to your computer and access them easily from your various tools.

Last April, the Los Angeles Getty Center gave Zoom users access to its collections. Over 100,000 free images are still offered by the institution to download directly from its website, from paintings by Van Gogh to works by Camille Pissarro, Jan van Huysum and Marco Ricci.

While all the Bibliothèque nationale de France sites have had to close because of lockdown measures that took effect on October 30, the French institution offers virtual presentations for art lovers stuck at home. Podcasts, applications and other resources are also featured on the Gallica website, BnF's digital library as well as on Retronews, the institution's press website.