The Samsung Art Store alternative: buy Frame TV art once instead of renting it
Updated September 17, 2026
The Samsung Art Store is good at one thing – licensed museum art on your Frame – and it charges $4.99 a month for it forever. Most owners end up wanting something else: art that matches their room, seasonal sets, and files they own. This page compares the Art Store honestly with the alternatives, including our own bundle, so you can decide what is worth paying for.
What the Samsung Art Store is
Built into every Frame (and since 2024, some other Samsung TVs), the Art Store is a catalogue of a few thousand pieces – works from the Met, the Prado, the Tate, the Albertina, National Gallery collections, plus contemporary artists and photographers – shown in Art Mode with your choice of matte. It is a subscription: $4.99/month or $49.99/year in the US, after a trial that ships with the TV. Subscribers can favourite unlimited pieces; when the subscription lapses, those favourites stop displaying. There is a small rotating free selection for non-subscribers.
It is well curated, the images are properly prepared for the panel, and for famous paintings it is the only licensed route. Those are real advantages.
Where it falls short
- You never own anything. Ten years of Art Store is $500 and you are left with nothing when you stop.
- Rotation of free pieces means nothing free is permanent.
- Limited seasonal and decor art. The catalogue is museum-weighted; if you want thirty Christmas pieces or a set of botanicals that match a green sofa, the Store is thin.
- No 4K guarantee on everything. Older scans in the catalogue are visibly soft on a 75”.
- Account and network dependent. When Samsung’s servers hiccup, the Store is “temporarily unavailable”; My Collection is not.
The alternatives
1. Upload your own art (free)
Every Frame lets you upload JPEGs to My Collection through SmartThings or USB at no cost, and everything in Art Mode – mattes, sensors, slideshows – works with them. How to upload. The catch is finding good 3840 × 2160 images, which is where the next options come in.
2. Public-domain museum art (free, some work)
The Met, Rijksmuseum, Art Institute of Chicago and others publish high-resolution scans of out-of-copyright paintings. You have to crop each to 16:9 and resize to 3840 × 2160, and most old paintings are portrait or 4:3, so the crops are compromises. Good for a handful of favourites.
3. Etsy and independent sellers (one-time)
Thousands of listings from a few dollars each. Quality varies enormously – check for 3840 × 2160 and 16:9, and see Etsy Frame TV art: what to look for.
4. A curated bundle (one-time) – ours
Our 1,267-design bundle was made specifically for this comparison: original art composed for the Frame at 3840 × 2160, twelve subject collections, twelve seasonal sets, painterly styles that look real in Art Mode, no text or watermarks, and one download you keep. See the collections and the best 50.
Side by side
| Samsung Art Store | Your own uploads | Etsy singles | 1,267-design bundle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $4.99/mo or $49.99/yr, ongoing | Free | ~$3–15 per design | One-time |
| Ownership | No – stops with subscription | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Museum masterpieces | Yes | Public domain only | Some (often poor scans) | No – original art |
| Seasonal sets | Limited | Depends | Many, mixed quality | 12 seasons, ~180 designs |
| Made for 16:9 at 4K | Mostly | Depends | Check every listing | All |
| Works offline / without account | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works on non-Samsung TVs | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Our recommendation
Keep the Art Store if you specifically want famous paintings and do not mind the fee – it is the right product for that. For everything else, put your own art in My Collection: it is free to do, it works without Samsung’s servers, and a one-time bundle of art designed for the Frame costs less than a single year of the Store. Many owners do both: a Store subscription for a few masterpieces, and a bundle for the seasonal rotation.
Whichever you choose, the Art Store cost breakdown covers the pricing details, trials, cancelling and coupon questions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Samsung Art Store?
Samsung's built-in subscription art catalogue for The Frame (and, from 2024, some other Samsung TVs): a few thousand works from museums, galleries and artists, displayed in Art Mode. It costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year in the US, with a small rotating free selection.
Is the Samsung Art Store worth it?
If you want museum reproductions – Van Gogh, Monet, the Met, the Prado – it is the only licensed way to get them on the Frame, and $50 a year is fair for that. If you want art that suits your room and you would rather own it, uploading your own is free and a one-time bundle is cheaper within a year.
Can I use the Frame TV without the Art Store?
Yes. Art Mode works fully with your own uploads (My Collection) and the free Art Store pieces. No subscription is required for the TV, the sensors, mattes or slideshows.
Does the Art Store have free art?
A rotating set of complimentary pieces, plus a trial period on new TVs. It is a small selection and changes monthly; you cannot keep favourites after the trial without subscribing.
What are the alternatives to the Samsung Art Store?
Uploading your own files (free), buying digital art from Etsy or a bundle like ours (one-time), public-domain museum downloads (free but need resizing), and third-party apps that hand off to SmartThings. All use the same My Collection upload.
