One of the sweetest elements in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the ability to collect, donate, and display art and artifacts on your island and in your home. Now, players can access the Getty Museum’s open-access collection to add famous works of art to their virtual collections via NookLink.
First, you’ll need an internet connection, the Custom Design app in New Horizons, and NookLink, the New Horizons app that pairs with your IRL phone via the Nintendo Switch Online app. Using NookLink, you’ll scan a QR code for a given artwork using the Custom Designs option. (Keep in mind that art added through this feature will be highly pixelated.)
To find a piece of art to add, you’ll need to search the Getty Museum’s open-access collection. Not sure where to start? The museum has selected a dozen famous works—from Manet, van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, Cézanne, and more—to inspire you. The museum also lets you upload artwork from other museums, including the National Gallery of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, using the International Image Interoperability Framework.
After you’ve selected an artwork, download and save the QR code from Getty. Then, open the Custom Design app on your NookPhone within the actual game and, while connected to wifi, hit + to connect to the internet and download your custom artwork to your in-game phone. (You’ll be able to select a blank square to save it to.) From there, select the artwork and choose to either wear it, display it on an easel or wall, or display it on the ground.
Getty used the open-source Animal Crossing Pattern Tool to convert its collection into tiny artwork for your island, and you can download as many as you like. And for more art, be sure to take a peek at the full list of participating collections.