Wikipedia is among the top ten most visited websites in the world. As part of the digital commons, it has democratized access to public information and made it easier for professionals in the arts to feature their careers and work on a major platform. An article published on Wikipedia can play a significant role in establishing an artist’s reputation and boosting their search engine visibility. Wikipedia is a reliable and trusted destination for internet users, and its pages often appear at the top of search engine results.

Because of the visibility and credibility that a Wikipedia page offers, it is a desirable asset for artists. But one of the most common obstacles emerges from the need to meet Wikipedia’s notability guidelines. Establishing Wikipedia notability for artists in particular depends not just on popularity or perceived prominence, but on the ability to point to reliable, independent sources that demonstrate sustained critical recognition.

The following guidelines will help you determine whether you (or the subject of your article) are notable enough for an artist Wikipedia page to be created. They will also help you improve the odds that your article won’t get rejected during Wikipedia’s evaluation of your eligibility for a page.

Wikipedia Notability vs Popularity in the Real World

As a Wikipedia editor focused on arts and culture, I diligently ensure that the pages I’m editing go above and beyond Wikipedia’s guidelines for establishing notability. Even some of the most successful artists and musicians can find the question of notability difficult to navigate when it comes to publishing or updating their pages.

At Flatpage, we’ve been approached by artists who have multiple gallery and museum exhibitions to their name—as well as musicians whose songs have been played tens of thousands of times on streaming platforms—looking for help with their Wikipedia pages. In both of these instances, the figure in question was still not considered notable enough for a Wikipedia article.

The main reason for this is that, despite having a CV that would impress any museum curator or tastemaker in the music scene, the subject lacks reliable and reputable published secondary or tertiary sources on their work. From the perspective of Wikipedia’s coterie of dedicated and exacting editors, notability is not the same thing as popularity.

That said, there is often some overlap, since well-known figures or topics generally do have sustained records of notability.

Common Considerations for Establishing Notability

A good way to test for the notability of a subject is by asking yourself the following questions:

1. Is the subject widely cited by peers or successors as an influential artist?
2. Are they known for contributing an important concept, theory, style, or technique within their field?
3. Does the subject have a highly recognizable and groundbreaking body of work?
4. Have they achieved substantial recognition as part of a significant exhibition or through sustained critical attention? Are they represented within the permanent collections of notable museums?
5. Is their work a primary topic of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews, or a book, film, or other form of reputable coverage?

It’s important to note that self-published texts and promotion via paid articles are strictly prohibited. You should be wary of any Wikipedia creation service that proposes such options to demonstrate your notability. Wikipedia is an informational commons, not a marketing platform. Its editors hold this fact in high regard.

If the subject of your proposed Wikipedia article meets any or all of these criteria, then it’s likely to be approved for publication. If not, then the most obvious and expeditious way to build the case for notability is to develop a sound and consistent bibliographic record. This means either getting exhibition reviews, feature profile pieces, or interviews with a writer who has the credentials to publish on reputable and reliable media platforms.

A Case Study for Gaining Notability

I recently consulted with an artist who had a hard time getting a particular work of art referenced in their Wikipedia article. They consider this work to be one of their most important pieces and it has a significant history of being exhibited. But unlike several of their other prominent works, it had no applicable published sources to establish its notability. The artwork was initially mentioned on their Wikipedia page, but it kept being flagged by editors, who noted that without a reliable citation it could not be included.

In addition, the artist was about to exhibit a new installation at a gallery—a project they were very excited about—and wanted to be able to mention it in their Wikipedia article. But at that time, there wasn’t yet an independent source that mentioned the exhibition.

They asked for my advice on both issues. I told them to focus on getting press for their work by sending personal letters to arts writers and inviting them to see the installation. They did this, and sure enough got a feature and an interview in which they brought up the aforementioned work of art, thereby establishing a published record of its notability. The published source mentioning this specific artwork was incorporated into their Wikipedia page, and it was accepted as a legitimate citation.

Have All Your Ducks in a Row

It is far easier to get an article greenlighted when you begin with an organized plan that includes steps to ensure that your subject will be deemed credible within Wikipedia’s framework. Some of my toughest jobs as an editor have been working on artist Wikipedia pages that face scrutiny from other editors because they did not initially establish enough notability. Once your article’s draft gets rejected for lacking notability, it becomes a lot harder for it to be successfully published. Often it will end up getting deleted altogether.

Before starting the writing or editing process on Wikipedia, the first thing I’d advise an aspiring contributor to do if they want to explore how to get an artist on Wikipedia is to establish a list of reliable sources where their subject is covered in significant depth. The number of sources doesn’t matter as much as their quality, although having at least ten different citations is ideal for an article between 500 and 1,000 words.

If you’re unsure about a source’s validity, you can always choose to work with an editor who has experience with Wikipedia’s style guide and publishing policies. This will help you vet suitable sources and eliminate those that are not applicable or useful.