Art Institute of Chicago MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides access to the Art Institute of Chicago Collection through natural language interactions. This server allows AI models to search the art collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and have artworks available as a Resource.
Features
This server provides AI models with the following tools for interacting with the art collection. The server also includes a prompt, art-gallery that will generate an interactive art gallery for a specific artist.
1. Search By Title (search-by-title)
Search for artworks by title in the Art Institute of Chicago
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Inputs:
title(string) The title of the artwork to search for.limit(number, optional, default 10) The number of resources to return per page.page(number, optional, default 1) The page of results to return. Used for pagination.
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Outputs:
Title: Nighthawks Artwork ID: 111628 Thumbnail alt text: Scene in a diner, viewed through wrap-around glass windows, at night on an empty urban street. A light-skinned man and woman, he in a suit and she in a red dress, sit together at a triangular wood bar, eyes downcast. At left sits another man, his back to the viewer. Behind the counter is a light-skinned man in a white uniform. The interior lights cast a yellow glow that spills onto the street in pale green. Above the diner a sign reads, "Phillies." Score: 1055.3839 ----- Title: Nighthawks Artwork ID: 118165 Thumbnail alt text: A work made of chromogenic print. Score: 57.28689 Pagination Info Total: 2 Total Pages: 1 Current Page: 1
2. Get a specific artwork (get-artwork-by-id)
Gets additional information, including the image if available, for a piece of art based on it's id.
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Inputs:
id(number) The ID of the artwork to retrieve.includeImage(boolean, optional, default true) Whether to include the artwork image in the response.
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Outputs:
Title: Nighthawks Artist: Edward Hopper (American, 1882–1967) Artist ID: 34996 Description: <p>About <em>Nighthawks</em> Edward Hopper recollected, “unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city.” In an all-night diner, three customers sit at the counter opposite a server, each appear to be lost in thought and disengaged from one another. The composition is tightly organized and spare in details: there is no entrance to the establishment, no debris on the streets. Through harmonious geometric forms and the glow of the diner’s electric lighting, Hopper created a serene, beautiful, yet enigmatic scene. Although inspired by a restaurant Hopper had seen on Greenwich Avenue in New York, the painting is not a realistic transcription of an actual place. As viewers, we are left to wonder about the figures, their relationships, and this imagined world.</p> Image ID: 831a05de-d3f6-f4fa-a460-23008dd58dda Place of Origin: United States Dimensions: 84.1 × 152.4 cm (33 1/8 × 60 in.) Medium: Oil on canvas Credit Line: Friends of American Art Collection Department: Arts of the Americas Is On View: Yes Main Reference Number: 1942.51 Has not been viewed much: No Date Start: 1942 Date End: 1942 Date: 1942 Fiscal Year: 1942 Is Public Domain: No Gallery: Gallery 262 Artwork Type: Painting Artist Title: Edward Hopper Artist Titles: Edward Hopper Style Title: Modernism**image encoded in base64 if available and includeImage is true
3. Full text search (full-text-search)
Performs a full text search of artworks whose metadata contains the search query.
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Inputs:
query(string) The term to search the metadata for.limit(number, optional, default 10) The number of resources to return per page.page(number, optional, default 1) The page of results to return. Used for pagination.
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Outputs:
Title: Untitled Artwork ID: 62290 Thumbnail alt text: A work made of oil and enamel on paper, mounted on composition board. Score: 108.70728 ----- ... ... ----- Title: Homage to the Square: Light Passage Artwork ID: 5569 Thumbnail alt text: Painting of overlapping squares in grey, yellow, gold, and orange. Score: 104.18398 Pagination Info Total: 8399 Total Pages: 840 Current Page: 1
4. Artist search (search-for-artist)
Search for a specific artist
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Inputs:
name(string) The name of the artist to search for.limit(number, optional, default 10) The number of resources to return per page.page(number, optional, default 1) The page of results to return. Used for pagination.
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Outputs:
Title: Vincent van Gogh Artist ID: 40610 Score: 55.865852 ----- Title: Imitator of Vincent van Gogh Artist ID: 47301 Score: 48.782307 Pagination Info Total: 2 Total Pages: 1 Current Page: 1
5. Find artwork by artist (get-artwork-by-artist)
Find works of art by an artist
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Inputs:
id(number) The id of the artist to search for artworks. Should be the Artist ID of thesearch-for-artisttool.limit(number, optional, default 10) The number of resources to return per page.page(number, optional, default 1) The page of results to return. Used for pagination.
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Outputs:
Title: The Bedroom Artwork ID: 28560 Thumbnail alt text: Painting of bedroom, blue walls, green window, tan bed, red bedding. Score: 11473.843 ----- . . . ----- Title: Weeping Tree Artwork ID: 52733 Thumbnail alt text: A work made of reed pen and black-brown ink, with black chalk on off-white wove paper. Score: 11.8061 Pagination Info Total: 18 Total Pages: 2 Current Page: 1
6. Find artwork by medium (search-by-medium)
Search for artworks by medium in the Art Institute of Chicago
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Inputs
medium(string) The medium to search for (e.g., "oil on canvas", "acrylic on panel", "watercolor on paper").limit(number, optional, default 10) The number of resources to return per page.page(number, optional, default 1) The page of results to return. Used for pagination.
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Outputs:
Title: The Bedroom Artwork ID: 28560 Thumbnail alt text: Painting of bedroom, blue walls, green window, tan bed, red bedding. Score: 56644.137 ----- Title: Starry Night and the Astronauts Artwork ID: 129884 Thumbnail alt text: Abstract painting composed of small vertical dabs of multiple shades of blue with a small area of similar strokes of red, orange, and yellow in the upper right. Score: 44797.906 -----
7. Art Gallery Prompt (art-gallery)
In the Claude Desktop app, use this prompt—along with your chosen artist’s name—to generate an interactive HTML art gallery showcasing their work.
Images are not displayed in the Claude Desktop app due to security reasons. You can download the HTML from Claude Desktop and view the images in the browser.
Claude Desktop Example
The Generated Gallery in a browser
Usage
Usage with Claude Desktop
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcp-servers": {
"artic-museum": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"artic-mcp"
]
}
}
}
Installing via Smithery
To install artic-mcp for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:
npx -y @smithery/cli install @mikechao/artic-mcp --client claude
Example queries
Here some questions you can ask the AI model when this server in connected:
Can you show me the painting titled "Nighthawks"?
Can you find art done by Vincent van Gogh in 1890 that is on display?
Can you find art by the artist Jackson Pollock?
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
License
This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.
Disclaimer
This MCP Server is not officially associated with The Art Institute of Chicago. It is a third-party implementation of the The Art Institute of Chicago's API with a MCP Server.