The aim of this work is to furnish the guidelines for the design of a multimedia system for the representation of works of art. A work of art can be interpreted in a number of ways. There have been many theories on analyzing an image as a whole, and as constituent parts of a whole. There have also been many theories on how to interpret its (more or less obvious) contents and relate them to the different contexts in which the image was created an used. This paper is devoted to illustrate some guidelines in order to design multimedia tools that combine the specific functions of databases within an essentially graphic environment. The guidelines concern, but are not restricted to, how the design of a tool is furnished and a discussion about some examples of an information access scenario concerning how works of art are presented.