Metropolitan Museum of Art Scraper

Metropolitan Museum of Art Scraper

Scrape the Metropolitan Museum of Art's open collection of 470,000+ artworks, filtered by keyword, department, or object ID. Every record returns title, artist, date, medium, dimensions, and high-resolution image URLs. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's official API requires registration and rate limits your requests. This Actor reads the public open-access collection feeds directly, letting you search by artist, title, or culture, browse entire departments, or fetch specific object records by their numeric ID. Each artwork lands in your dataset as one flat row with its full metadata and image links.

Who uses it	What they scrape The Metropolitan Museum of Art for
Art historians	Gathering a corpus of works by a specific artist or period for a research paper.
Data scientists	Building a training dataset of labeled artwork images and metadata for a machine learning model.
App developers	Populating an art discovery app with high-resolution public-domain images and descriptions.
Educators	Creating a visual syllabus of artworks from a particular culture or medium for a course.

What it does

This Actor collects artwork records from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's open-access collection by search query, department ID, or specific object IDs, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Search Artworks: Free-text query across artist, title, culture, and keyword fields.
• 🏛️ List by Department: Pull every object in a curatorial department by its numeric ID.
• 🆔 Fetch by Object IDs: Supply a list of known MET object IDs and get their full records back.
• 📋 List All Departments: Discover every department ID and name before you scrape.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with The Metropolitan Museum of Art data

📚 Build an art history dataset.

A researcher searches for 'impressionism' with the highlights filter on, collects 500 records, and exports them to CSV for a publication on curatorial selection.

🖼️ Power a public-domain art app.

A developer pulls the entire European Paintings department, filters to records with images, and uses the high-resolution URLs to populate a mobile gallery app.

🏛️ Audit what is on view.

A journalist runs a department scrape with the 'on view' filter to compare the MET's online catalog against the physical galleries before a review.

🤖 Train an artwork classifier.

A data scientist fetches 50,000 object IDs, downloads the linked images, and pairs them with medium and culture labels for a computer vision model.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public open-access feeds directly with no registration or authentication.
High-res images	Every record includes the primary image URL and additional image links when available.
Curator filters	Restrict results to only highlights, only items currently on view, or only records with images.
Fixed schema	Every artwork arrives as one flat row, ready for CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML export.

How it compares

This Actor covers all four access modes and three search filters in one run, while the listed competitors focus on keyword search and image availability.

Feature	ParseForge	Met Museum Scraper - Art Collection Data	🖼️ Art Museum Intelligence - Met & Art Institute Data	Metropolitan Museum of Art Scraper
Search by keyword	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Browse by department ID	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Yes
Fetch by specific object IDs	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
List all departments	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Filter to highlights only	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Filter to on-view only	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Multi-museum search	MET only	MET only	Yes (MET + Art Institute)	MET only

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a search term, a department ID, or a list of object IDs, and apply filters for images, highlights, and on-view status so only matching artworks reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10,
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "sunflowers"
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200,
  "mode": "search",
  "query": "sunflowers"
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.01099 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$1.10
1,000 results	$10.99
10,000 results	$109.90

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Metropolitan Museum of Art Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/met-museum-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for my search query?

Check that your search term is spelled correctly and is not too narrow. Also verify that you have not enabled 'Only Highlights' or 'Only Items Currently On View' if those filters are too restrictive for your query. Try a broader term like 'landscape' or 'portrait' first.

The Actor returns fewer results than the max I set.

This is expected when the collection has fewer matching artworks than your maximum. The Actor stops when it exhausts the available records. Try removing filters or broadening your search term to get more results.

My department scrape returns nothing.

Run the Actor in 'List All Departments' mode first to confirm the department ID you are using is valid. Department IDs are integers between 1 and 21. Make sure you have entered the numeric ID, not the department name.

Some records are missing the primary image URL.

Not every artwork in the MET collection has been photographed. If you need images, enable the 'Only Items with Images' filter in Search mode. In other modes, records without images will have an empty primary image field.

My object ID list is not being read correctly.

In 'Fetch by Object IDs' mode, enter one numeric ID per line with no commas or extra characters. The Actor expects plain integers. Check that your IDs are valid MET object IDs by looking one up on the museum's website.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a MET API key to use this scraper?	No. This Actor reads the public open-access feeds that the Metropolitan Museum of Art provides without authentication. You do not need to register an application or obtain a key.
What artwork metadata does each record include?	Each row returns the object ID, title, artist display name, artist bio, object date, medium, dimensions, culture, period, dynasty, classification, department, credit line, and the primary image URL plus additional image links.
Can I filter to only artworks that have images?	Yes. In Search mode, enable the 'Only Items with Images' checkbox and the Actor will skip any record that lacks a primary image.
How do I find the numeric department ID I need?	Run the Actor in 'List All Departments' mode first. It returns every department ID and its display name. Copy the ID you want into the 'Department ID' field for a department scrape.
Can I scrape only the curator-picked highlights?	Yes. In Search mode, check 'Only Highlights' and the Actor will return only the artworks the MET's curators have designated as highlights of the collection.
How do I get artworks that are currently hanging in the museum?	In Search mode, enable the 'Only Items Currently On View' filter. The Actor restricts results to pieces that are physically on display at the MET.
What is the maximum number of artworks I can scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 artworks per run. The Actor will stop when it reaches your limit or when there are no more matching records.
Can I fetch specific artworks if I already know their object IDs?	Yes. Switch to 'Fetch by Object IDs' mode and paste your list of numeric MET object IDs, one per line. The Actor fetches the full record for each one.
Are the images free to use?	The Metropolitan Museum of Art designates many of its collection images as public domain under Creative Commons Zero (CC0). This Actor returns the image URLs; you are responsible for verifying the rights status of each image before use.
What export formats are supported?	You can export your dataset to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML directly from your Apify run. The flat row schema works with all four formats.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.