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
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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: About Nighthawks 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.
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
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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
5. Find artwork by artist (get-artwork-by-artist)
Find works fo 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 the search-for-artist tool.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
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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. 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.
