Need a fun mental break? We’ve created six digital jigsaw puzzles through Jigsaw Explorer that feature a few favorite images from our collection. Play them right here on our blog or use the links to expand an individual puzzle. Each puzzle is set to contain about 100 pieces, but they are customizable for any skill set. Hit the question mark icon on a puzzle for more information. We’ve tested these with staff (and kid volunteers!) and hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
All of these images are freely available through our Image Gallery, Digital Library or Biodiversity Heritage Library. Feel free to explore, download other images and maybe make your own boredom buster!
“The Lilac” from Eugene Grasset’s La plante et ses applications ornementales (1896).
A stunner of a book, Grasset’s design patterns focus on plants and flowers. It was intended to promote the Art Nouveau style.
Play online: https://jigex.com/CsBd
“The Koodoo” from Samuel Daniell’s African Scenery and Animals, 1804-05.
The kudu is a type of spiral-horned antelope. It’s one of many species (some now extinct) featured in African scenery and animals (1804-05), available in the Biodiversity Heritage Library. These hand-colored aquatint plates present artwork by Samuel Daniell, produced during an expedition to Africa at the end of the eighteenth century.
Play online: https://jigex.com/HzPd
“Pour rêver un peu” from La guirlande, fasc (1919).
The title of this illustration says it all – “To dream a little”. It was published in 1919 in the French literary and art journal, La guirlande. The publication’s art director was Italian artist Umberto Brunelleschi, known for his book and fashion illustrations.
Play online: https://jigex.com/6N8V
Cover from Aéroplane captif (1909).
Aéroplane captif is one of hundreds of pieces of aeronautical-themed sheet music collected by Bella C. Landauer (1874–1960). Landauer took an interest in aviation when her son became a pilot and scoured music shops to amass her collection. She’s one of many collectors featured in our exhibition, Magnificent Obessions: Why We Collect.
Play online: https://jigex.com/4E1R
This charming drawing of men and women strolling on the paths on the Mall in front of the Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) is from Robert Dale Owen’s 1849 publication, Hints on public architecture, containing, among other illustrations, views and plans of the Smithsonian institution. Owen was a Smithsonian regent and the head of the Building Committee. The exterior of the building wasn’t actually completed until 1851.
Play online: https://jigex.com/Vggy
Front cover from John Lewis Childs’ New, rare & beautiful flowers, (1890).
John Lewis Childs was born on May 13, 1856. He acquired a few acres and set up his business as a seedsman and florist at age eighteen, after one year as a florist’s helper on Long Island. His operation was based in Floral Park, New York, which was often featured in his catalogs. The Smithsonian Libraries holds more than 10,000 seed and nursery catalogs dating from 1830 to the present.
Play online: https://jigex.com/6Bzy
30 Comments
These are great! Thank you! Me, my wife,and my mother-in-law are all having fun doing them!
Thank you so much for a beautiful puzzle!
Thank you for the puzzles from art. Such a joy during pandemic.
Thanks for the diversion–back to work!
These are really cool – thank you! (The “Play online” links aren’t clickable, fyi.)
Nice puzzles! Extra-challenging with a high piece count.
Thank you so much! This was much appreciated in the midst of a difficult day.
That was fun! And nothing is fun now.
Just saw tonight and I am addicted to it more more fun
I tried to stretch these out for as long as I could. I regret to say that I have done all six. Thank you for this wonderful gift.
Thank you!
Fantastic
I enjoy all these how to get more??? Thanks
Thank you for the puzzles. They are beautiful.
Such a wonderful distraction during this troubling time. Thank you.
These puzzles are wonderful! I especially like the layout, with all the pieces laid out individually, rather than piled and stacked on each other. This allows a user to actually start solving the puzzle without having to first disentangle the pieces — this often takes longer than the actual solve! Thank you!
Thanks for this great variety of puzzle subjects from your collections. Such fun and the options make subsequent tries at solving even more fun.
Thank you! I really enjoyed these puzzles. I saw them in a Facebook post from a friend who works at a local library. I’ve been checking out your web site and I love it. I could sit here all day (and not get anything done). Thanks for all the effort you put into making this such an interesting web site.
This was really fun! Thank you for a relaxing evening.
I enjoyed the puzzles, especially showing a small bit of history.
Wonderful COVID19 diversions. Probably the best collection of jigsaws I’ve found online so far. Thank you!
More puzzles, please!! Lots of them! This was really fun! Thank you for making them! My husband I worked out way through them. I was just working them on the little screen, but it’s much faster if one makes the screen full-sized because you can see the pieces better! Enjoyed it!
Very cool. This just gave me an idea to 3d print puzzles, though I’m not quite sure the best way to get the image to stay on the printed pieces.
will you be adding more?
I just love puzzles and these were such a delight. I was very excited to find them and have thoroughly enjoyed them. The applause at the end is great fun too. I’d love to see more! Thank you so much!
Fantastic! I’ve sent this page to about 50 of my friends and family. We are all loving this. Will you be able to provide more?
I also love the coloring pages and the postcards.
If you go to jigsawexplorer.com you can make a jigsaw of any jpg you want.
More, please. I’m thoroughly enjoying these. I started with my favorite images but am now going back for the rest. Once you figure out the way to do the first one, it is just a really nice way to de-stress.
My entire household has Covid19. Needless to say, we are in search of activities during quarantine. These puzzles are a Godsend! Thank you, Smithsonian!
Hope to see some more of these. They are a lot of fun.