No one wants to be a starving artist, but can be hard for an up-and-coming artist to get enough people interested in his or her projects to want to purchase some of it. That's only one of many reasons an online art gallery might be a godsend for those artists looking for their big break.

An online art gallery is a website that features art of various kinds. Whether the art itself is painting, sculpture, or any other form, the piece is first digitally photographed and then displayed on the website as a webpage image. Often, an online art gallery will display the works of several artists at once, or may offer several pieces from the same artist.

In return for this service, an online art gallery may make its money by receiving commissions from the sales of the work of the various artists. Usually, an agreement is tendered wherein any piece that is sold through the online art gallery is subject to a fee. The gallery withholds the fee once the art is sold and paid for.

This kind of arrangement works well for both parties. The artists can showcase their work to a broad audience, without the marketing expense having to come from their own pocket; the online art gallery benefits in that they collect a payment for the pieces that are sold and have a constant supply of art to draw in potential customers.

However, not all online art galleries use this type of arrangement. Some prefer to charge the artist a fee, which must be paid in advance. Generally, this fee is used to offset the bandwidth cost incurred by the site owners, as well as the cost for the website design itself. The good side of this is the artist will usually not have to pay a commission to the online art gallery once the sale is made.

An important added benefit to using an online art gallery is that the artist receives exposure as well. The online art gallery makes a profit only when people come to the website and buy from it. Because it is in their own best interest to do so, they will work hard at promoting their virtual space, which, in turn, promotes those artists showcased there. For the artists, this means more exposure, which can translate into more sales.

If you are interested in displaying your art work in such a manner, you should do some research as not every online art gallery is willing to feature the work of up-and-coming artists. Some of the more prestigious galleries prefer to focus on the works of more established artists.

Whether you are an artist, or simply an art connoisseur, you should browse the contents of an online art gallery. The level of quality and the sheer diversity of what you may find can surprise you.