Met Museum — Free Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection API (No Key)

TL;DR

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Collection API provides digital access to over 500,000 artworks from one of the world's largest and most prestigious museums. You can search by keyword, department, artist, period, or material and get detailed object data including title, artist, date, medium, dimensions, credit line, and high-resolution images. The Met's open access policy means many images are freely usable with no restrictions.

Quick start: https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/objects/100

No API key needed — just make a request!

How to Use This API

1. Get Object by ID

https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/objects/100

2. Search Objects

https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/search?q=sunflowers&hasImages=true

3. List Departments

https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/departments

4. JavaScript — Search and Display

fetch('https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/search?q=monet&hasImages=true')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(sr => sr.objectIDs.slice(0, 5))
  .then(ids => Promise.all(ids.map(id =>
    fetch(`https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/objects/${id}`).then(r => r.json())
  )))
  .then(objs => {
    objs.forEach(o => {
      console.log(o.title, '—', o.artistDisplayName, `(${o.objectDate})`);
    });
  });

5. Python — Get Artwork Details

import requests

resp = requests.get('https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/objects/436535')
obj = resp.json()
print(f"Title: {obj['title']}")
print(f"Artist: {obj['artistDisplayName']}")
print(f"Date: {obj['objectDate']}")
print(f"Medium: {obj['medium']}")
print(f"Image: {obj['primaryImage']}")

Try it: https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/public/collection/v1/objects/100

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many objects are in the API?: Over 500,000 objects from the Met's collection, with new objects added as they are digitized.
How do I search by department?: Use departmentId parameter. First fetch /v1/departments to get department IDs, then search with ?departmentId=11&q=painting.
Are images freely usable?: Many images are in the public domain (marked isPublicDomain: true) and can be used freely under Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
What fields does an object response include?: Title, artist, date, medium, dimensions, credit line, accession number, classification, department, tags, and multiple image URLs (primary, thumbnail, additional).

What You Can Build

Virtual art gallery browsing app
Art history research tool with metadata
Museum collection explorer by period or artist
Digital art frame with rotating Met masterpieces
Educational art quiz using collection data