To cite an image in MLA format, you need four core pieces of information: the creator’s name, the title of the image, the date it was created, and where you found it. How you fill in that last element depends on whether you viewed the image in person, in a print publication, or online. Beyond the Works Cited entry, you also need to label the image properly in your paper using a figure caption.
The Basic Works Cited Entry
Every MLA image citation follows the same skeleton. Start with the creator’s last name, then first name. Follow that with the title of the image in italics. Add the date of composition, then the location where you accessed the image. Each element is separated by a period, except the date and location, which are separated by a comma.
Here is what that looks like for a photograph viewed in person at a museum:
Cameron, Julia Margaret. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 1866, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
For a painting you found on a museum’s website, add the website name and URL instead of a physical location:
Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975. MOMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/65232?locale=en.
If the image has no title, describe it with a generic label (like “Cartoon” or “Photograph”) without italics or quotation marks. For an untitled image from a print source, include the publication details and page number:
Karasik, Paul. Cartoon. The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2008, p. 49.
How to Label an Image in Your Paper
In MLA style, any visual that is not a table or musical score is called a “figure.” When you place an image in your paper, you need to do two things: refer to it in the body text and provide a caption directly below the image.
In your text, refer to the image using a lowercase abbreviation and an Arabic numeral, like “fig. 1” or “fig. 3.” Below the image itself, write the label with an initial capital (“Fig. 1.”) followed by the title or caption and source information on the same line. Names in figure captions are listed in first-name-last-name order, which is the opposite of the Works Cited page.
A figure caption that provides complete source information can actually replace a Works Cited entry for that image. If your caption includes the creator, title, date, and location, and the source is not cited elsewhere in your text, you do not need to list the source again on the Works Cited page. This is a useful shortcut when you are only using an image once.
Images From Websites
For an image you found on a general website, list the creator (if known), the title of the image, the name of the website as the container, the date of publication, and the URL. If no creator is identified, begin the entry with the image title. If the image has no title, write a brief description without italics or quotation marks.
When you cannot determine a publication date, you can use the copyright date listed on the page. If there is no date at all, simply omit that element and move on to the URL.
Images From Social Media
Citing an image from a platform like Instagram or Pinterest follows the same general template, with a few specific adjustments. Use the account name as the author. If the account holder’s real name differs from the handle, you can add the handle in brackets after the name. If the two are similar enough (like “Alicia Keys” and @aliciakeys), you can skip the handle as long as you include a URL.
For the title element, use text from the post itself in quotation marks. If the post has no text, write a brief description. Then list the name of the platform (Instagram, Pinterest) as the container title, followed by the date and URL.
A Pinterest citation might look like this:
“Cover of Space Cat and the Kittens, by Ruthven Todd.” Pinterest, 2020, www.pinterest.com/pin/565412928193207246/.
If a post does not have its own unique URL, provide a URL for the creator’s account page instead. For in-text citations, use whatever appears first in your Works Cited entry, which is usually the account name.
Artworks Viewed in Person
If you visited a museum or gallery and are citing the original work, list the artist’s name, the title of the work in italics, the year of composition, and the museum name along with the city:
Bearden, Romare. The Train. 1975, Museum of Modern Art, New York.
If the medium of the artwork matters to your discussion (oil on canvas, gelatin silver print, etc.), you can add it at the end of the entry as an optional element. This is not required, but it can be helpful in art history papers or when you are comparing different media.
AI-Generated Images
If you used a tool like DALL-E or Midjourney to generate an image, MLA asks you to describe the prompt you used, then list the AI tool, the model name or version, the company, the date you created the image, and a URL if one is available.
Here is what a figure caption looks like for an AI-generated image:
Fig. 1. “Create an expressionist-style image of two people standing on a beach looking at the ocean” prompt, DALL-E, version 3, OpenAI, 23 Sept. 2024, chatgpt.com/share/66f1c3a3-3f90-8000-9750-82c57c4a6592.
You can place this same information in a Works Cited entry instead of the caption if you prefer. The key detail is the prompt description: your reader needs to understand what instructions produced the image.
In-Text Citations for Images
When you reference an image in the body of your paper, the in-text citation works like any other MLA citation. Use the shortest piece of information that points your reader to the correct Works Cited entry. That is usually the creator’s last name in parentheses. If you have multiple works by the same creator, add an abbreviated title to distinguish them.
If the image has no identified creator and the entry begins with a title, use a shortened version of the title in your parenthetical citation. For social media posts where the entry begins with an account name, use that account name.
When you have already labeled the image as a figure in your paper with a full caption, you can simply direct the reader to “fig. 1” or whichever number applies. This keeps your prose clean and avoids redundant citations for images that are displayed right on the page.