Giclée prints are in the finest tradition of European printmaking in that they  are made individually when ordered rather than on a mass production photo-mechanical offset-litho basis so often used for most reproductive prints. Each individual print can be created one at a time,  as they are acquired by collectors, up to the number established as the total edition size. 

The word "Giclée" is French meaning spurt or squirt, in this instance meaning "spray of ink".  More than 100 inkjets spray up to four  million droplets of ink per second on either canvas or watercolor paper.  Once completed a 34" x 46" image  comprises twenty billion droplets of ink.  The resulting print has no perceptible dot pattern and captures every nuance of the original work of art.  A giclée print is simply the closest duplication of an original artwork as is humanly, mechanically or technically possible.

Giclée inks are lightfast and uv-resistant to 75 years.  This means that under typical home or office lighting a giclée print can last as long as 75 years before noticeable fading occurs.  Giclée prints should be treated the same as any original watercolor and should not be placed in direct sunlight.  Giclées printed on paper should be frame mounted behind glass or plexiglass.  Giclées printed on canvas can be treated with an acrylic varnish to aid in their protection.

Because of this archival quality and due to the precision of the print when compared to the original,  giclée prints are gaining wide acceptance.  The Louvre in Paris uses this process to reproduce and display works which cannot be allowed out of the museum vaults due to their value and fragility.  Thus, artwork that would never be shown to the public can now be displayed.  Museums and galleries throughout the world display giclée prints.  A partial  list of those institutions is as follows:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art

The Los Angeles County Museum

The British Museum

The Laguna Museum of Art

The Corcoran Gallery

The Philadelphia Museum of Art

The San Francisco Museum of Art