Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@artsmia-mcp find me Impressionist paintings on view on floor 2"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, CLI toolkit, and API library for the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) collection (search.artsmia.org).
Search over 90,000 artworks, fetch high-resolution images, explore gallery locations, look up artists and historical constituents, and query collection highlights.
🏛️ Full Collection Search: Elasticsearch queries across titles, artists, descriptions, provenance, curatorial text, dates, cultures, and departments.
🖼️ High-Res Imagery: Automatic link resolution for 400px, 600px, 800px, and full-resolution uncompressed master images on Mia's CDN (1.api.artsmia.org).
📍 Gallery Locations & On-View Filter: Discover artworks physically on view on floors 1, 2, or 3, or query specific galleries (e.g., G355).
🎲 Random Art Exploration: Fetch random collection pieces, optionally filtered by gallery floor, genre, or artist.
⭐ Curated Highlights: Access Mia's permanent masterwork collection highlights.
👤 Artist & Constituent Bios: Retrieve artist metadata, Wikidata IDs, Wikipedia links, and cross-museum identifiers (Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, SAAM).
🤖 MCP Protocol Support: 7 tools, 2 resource templates (artsmia://highlights, artsmia://random, artsmia://artwork/{id}), and 2 guided prompts (curate_tour, artwork_critique).
💻 Dual Mode: Runs as a standard stdio MCP server or as a standalone CLI.
Related MCP server: Museum MCP Server
npx (No installation needed)npx artsmia-mcpnpm install -g artsmia-mcpAdd this to your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"artsmia": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "artsmia-mcp"]
}
}
}{
"mcpServers": {
"artsmia": {
"command": "cmd.exe",
"args": ["/c", "npx -y artsmia-mcp"]
}
}
}.cursor/mcp.json){
"mcpServers": {
"artsmia": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "artsmia-mcp"]
}
}
}Tool Name | Description | Key Arguments |
| Search artworks with Elasticsearch syntax, filters, and pagination |
|
| Retrieve complete metadata and high-res image links by object ID |
|
| Retrieve multiple artworks by list of IDs in a single batch |
|
| Retrieve random artworks, optionally filtered by query/floor |
|
| Discover masterworks and curated collection highlights |
|
| Find artworks on physical exhibition in museum galleries |
|
| Look up artist constituent information, Wikidata, and museum IDs |
|
# Search for artist or title
artsmia search "Claude Monet"
# Search with Elasticsearch query syntax
artsmia search "classification:Paintings AND country:Japan"
# Output raw JSON
artsmia search "Vincent van Gogh" --jsonartsmia get 10436artsmia batch 10436,1218,1413artsmia random
artsmia random --query="room:G3*" --size=3artsmia highlights --size=5
artsmia on-view --room=G355
artsmia on-view --floor=3artsmia person 1You can also import artsmia-mcp directly in Node.js or TypeScript:
import {
searchArtworks,
getArtworkById,
getRandomArt,
searchHighlights
} from "artsmia-mcp";
// Search artworks
const results = await searchArtworks({ query: "Monet", size: 5 });
for (const hit of results.hits.hits) {
console.log(hit._source.title, hit._source.image_urls?.large);
}
// Get specific artwork with resolved images
const artwork = await getArtworkById(10436);
console.log(artwork?.title, artwork?.image_urls?.full);The codebase includes a full test suite with 100% unit and integration test coverage across all tools, CLI flags, error paths, and resource handlers:
npm test
npm run test -- --coverageMIT © Amin
Get complete curatorial metadata, physical dimensions, medium, provenance, labels, and direct high-resolution image links for a specific artwork by its Mia object ID.
Inputs: id (required).
Fetch multiple artworks by a list of object IDs in a single request.
Inputs: ids (required).
Find artworks currently on physical exhibition in the museum galleries. Filter by specific gallery room code (e.g., 'G355') or museum floor (1, 2, or 3).
Inputs: from, room, size, floor.
Look up artist or constituent information by ID, including Wikidata identifier, Wikipedia biography link, and IDs in other major museums (Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, SAAM).
Inputs: id (required).
Retrieve one or more random artworks from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, optionally filtered by gallery floor/room, artist, medium, or custom query.
Inputs: size, query.
Search the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) collection of over 90,000 artworks. Supports Elasticsearch query syntax, field filters (e.g. artist:"Claude Monet", classification:"Paintings", country:"Japan", room:"G355", rights_type:"Public Domain"), pagination (size, from), and sorting.
Inputs: query (required), from, size, sort.
Discover famous masterworks and curated highlight pieces in the Minneapolis Institute of Art permanent collection.
Inputs: from, size, query.
Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.
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Scored across 7 tools
Most tools have clearly distinct purposes: search vs. random vs. highlights vs. on-view vs. person lookup. The only potential confusion is between search_artworks and search_highlights, but their descriptions clarify that one searches the full collection and the other surfaces curated highlights.
All tool names follow a consistent snake_case verb_noun pattern (search_artworks, get_artwork, get_person, etc.). The one compound name, get_on_view_artworks, still fits the established convention.
Seven tools is well-scoped for a museum collection server. Each tool earns its place, covering search, retrieval, batch retrieval, random discovery, highlights, on-view browsing, and person lookup without unnecessary bloat.
For a read-only museum collection API, the surface is complete: full-text search, individual and batch lookup, random exploration, highlights, current exhibitions, and artist metadata. There are no obvious dead ends for typical collection-browsing workflows.
Search the Art Institute of Chicago collection: artworks, artists, exhibitions, and audio guides.
Art Institute of Chicago MCP — wraps the ARTIC public API (free, no auth)
Unlock a world of art with the Met Museum MCP! Use the 'search_artworks' API to find stunning
Search 497,000+ public domain paintings, prints and drawings from 72 museums, with museum records.