Random Museum Artwork MCP Server

Fetches a random artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's public collection, including the title, artist, creation date, artwork image, and a link to more information. Exposes a single MCP API tool for easy integration with Claude Desktop and other MCP clients.

Installation

You can run this server directly (no manual setup required, all dependencies auto-installed by npm):

• With npx (recommended):

  npx @dennisk2025/random-museum-artwork

• Or install globally:

  npm install -g @dennisk2025/random-museum-artwork random-museum-artwork

Adding to Claude Desktop

Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "random-art": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@dennisk2025/random-museum-artwork"]
    }
  }
}

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Usage

Once added to Claude Desktop or started manually, this server exposes the following tool:

Tool: get_random_artwork

Description: Returns details and image of a random artwork from the Met Museum's open dataset. Outputs the artwork's title, artist, date, image URL, and object page link.

Parameters:

• (none required)

Example Tool Call

Request:

{
  "name": "get_random_artwork",
  "arguments": {}
}

Response:

{
  "title": "Study of a Young Woman",
  "artist": "Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)",
  "date": "1632",
  "imageUrl": "https://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ep/original/DT1567.jpg",
  "objectPage": "http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437857"
}

List of Available Tools

• get_random_artwork
  • Returns: { title, artist, date, imageUrl, objectPage }
  • Parameters: none
  • Description: Returns a random major artwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art including image, page, and basic metadata.

Enjoy exploring art from one of the world's greatest museum collections — programmatically!