# The Met and Art Institute of Chicago Artwork Search

> Find public domain art images from The Met and the Art Institute of Chicago. Filter by artist, department and date. Get credit lines and links.

URL: https://cliqtomedia.com/actors/museum-open-access-search/

Category: Science & research data · Status: coming soon · Apify profile: https://apify.com/cliqtomedia?fpr=cliqto

Search two big museum collections with one input. Keep only public-domain works, or see other artwork data too. Each row has the artist, date and rights flag.

## How to use it: 3 steps

1. **Follow us on Apify.** The tool is built and waits in the queue for the Apify Store. Apify is the cloud platform where our tools run.
2. **Paste your input and press Start.** No code needed: you fill in a form (the input). It already has a working example. For example: `met` in Museums. Each start is one run.
3. **Download the results.** When the run ends, the results are in a table (the dataset). Open Output, press Export and pick Excel or CSV. JSON and the API are there too.

## What it does

Search The Met and Art Institute of Chicago for artwork metadata and public-domain image links. This Actor brings artist names, creation dates, credit lines and rights flags into one dataset. No museum API key is needed.





## Price

Prices will be shown after release.

## Questions

### Are the images free to reuse?

Image links come only for confirmed public-domain records. Still check the museum page.

### Do I need a museum API key?

No. The museum sources are public.

### Does an empty search cost money?

Yes, only the small start fee.

### Can I export the full collection?

No. One run gives up to 200 works.

### Can I get more than 200 works?

A single run supports at most 200 rows. Split your searches by subject, museum or years. The Actor does not promise a complete collection export or provide a pagination cursor.

### Is this a drop-in replacement for other museum Actors?

The inputs and field names are specific to this Actor. Use the tables above to map them into your workflow.

## Data fields

- `museum` (string): Museum code: met or aic. Use with objectId as a unique key.
- `provider` (string): Full name of the museum that supplied this record.
- `objectId` (integer): Positive integer artwork ID from the museum. IDs can overlap between museums.
- `title` (string): Artwork title from the museum; null when missing.
- `artist` (string): Artist display text from the museum; may include nationality and dates. Null when missing.
- `date` (string): Original creation date label, such as c. 1950. Null when missing.
- `dateStart` (integer): Start of creation period in integer years; negative means BCE. Null when absent.
- `dateEnd` (integer): End of creation period in integer years; null when absent.
- `medium` (string): Original material or technique text; null when missing.
- `dimensions` (string): Original dimensions text, including source units; null when missing.
- `department` (string): Museum department name; null when missing.
- `publicDomain` (boolean): Museum public-domain flag. Null means the source did not supply a boolean.
- `licence` (string): Image reuse classification: CC0, restricted_or_other, or unknown.
- `metadataLicence` (string): Licence for returned metadata: CC0. Chicago description text is excluded.
- `primaryImageUrl` (string): HTTPS open-image link only when publicDomain is true and an image exists; otherwise null.
- `iiifUrl` (string): Chicago IIIF presentation manifest URL for confirmed open images; null for Met or restricted/missing images.
- `creditLine` (string): Museum credit text to keep with the artwork; null when absent.
- `objectUrl` (string): HTTPS museum page for this artwork.
- `sourceUrl` (string): HTTPS first-party API record for this artwork.
- `fetchedAt` (string): ISO timestamp when this Actor read the record.
- `sourceUpdatedAt` (string): Record update time in the museum source system (Met metadataDate, Chicago source_updated_at); null when missing.

## Input settings

- `query` (string, required): Met searches object metadata. Chicago requires all words in at least one title, artist or medium field. Use plain words; no shared advanced query syntax.
- `museums` (array): Choose met and/or aic. The result limit is shared. Duplicate choices are removed.
- `publicDomainOnly` (boolean): Keep only objects whose museum marks them as public domain. When off, restricted metadata may appear, but restricted image and IIIF links stay empty.
- `department` (string): Optional case-insensitive part of the museum department name, such as European Paintings or Prints and Drawings. Checked after search; department IDs are not accepted.
- `artist` (string): Optional case-insensitive part of the artist display name, such as van Gogh or Lemmen. Checked after search.
- `dateFrom` (integer): Optional lower creation year. Keeps works whose creation period overlaps the year range. Negative years mean BCE. Missing date ends are excluded.
- `dateTo` (integer): Optional upper creation year. May be used without dateFrom. Must be at least dateFrom when both are set. Missing date starts are excluded.
- `maxResults` (integer): Total rows across selected museums, from 1 to 200. The search checks a bounded number of candidates; selective filters may return fewer rows.

## Step by step on Apify

1. Open Input. The form shows `sunflowers`, both museums, public domain only and 20 rows.
2. Keep these values and click Start.
3. Open the Artworks output view for titles, artists and image links.
4. Open Rights for licences and credit lines.
5. Check Run summary for per-museum counts and limits, then export the Dataset.

## Use cases

| Task | Input | Key fields |
|---|---|---|
| Find open images for a lesson | Subject query, public domain only | `title`, `primaryImageUrl`, `creditLine` |
| Build a design research shortlist | Query plus artist or years | `artist`, `dateStart`, `dateEnd`, `medium` |
| Check reuse rights before selecting art | One or both museums | `publicDomain`, `licence`, `objectUrl` |

## Tips

- One run gives up to 200 works. Split by museum, subject or years.
- Always check the museum page for third-party rights.
- Use the credit line when you show an image.

## Limits

A forced platform kill can stop the process before the final summary is written. Dataset storage and event charging are separate operations; a lost storage response can need manual reconciliation.

- At most 200 saved rows per run, 180 Met candidates and 400 Chicago candidates, with a shared budget of 240 source requests and 2 MB of response data. A Met-only search therefore returns at most 180 rows.
- Requests are sequential for each museum, about one per second. Selective filters can use the whole candidate budget and still find no eligible works.
- Use 256 MB memory. Other memory settings are rejected before museum requests.
- Internal source work is bounded to 245 seconds or an earlier platform deadline. Raising the platform timeout does not expand the search.
- `complete` means this query was exhausted within the bounds. `not_found` means it was exhausted with no eligible records.
- `partial` with `MAX_RESULTS`, `SCAN_LIMIT` or `TIME_LIMIT` means more matching candidates may remain. These bounded runs succeed.
- `partial` with `CHARGE_LIMIT` means the buyer budget stopped delivery; the run succeeds.
- Source errors, a deadline hit while retrying a failing source, invalid input or cancellation make the run fail. Any rows saved before the stop remain available; the summary is `partial` if there are rows, otherwise `error`.

## Sample result

```json
{
  "museum": "met",
  "provider": "The Metropolitan Museum of Art",
  "objectId": 436524,
  "title": "Sunflowers",
  "artist": "Vincent van Gogh",
  "date": "1887",
  "dateStart": 1887,
  "dateEnd": 1887,
  "medium": "Oil on canvas",
  "dimensions": "17 x 24 in. (43.2 x 61 cm)",
  "department": "European Paintings",
  "publicDomain": true,
  "licence": "CC0",
  "metadataLicence": "CC0",
  "primaryImageUrl": "https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DP-41223-001.jpg",
  "iiifUrl": null,
  "creditLine": "Rogers Fund, 1949",
  "objectUrl": "https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436524",
  "sourceUrl": "https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/objects/436524",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-10-14T00:47:17.631Z",
  "sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-02-04T04:58:06.107Z"
}
```

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