The Met Open Access vs Artifact World Gallery
The Met Open Access is the authoritative source for the Metropolitan Museum of Art: roughly 492,000 CC0 images of its own collection, free to download with scholarly metadata and a public API. Artifact World Gallery is the better choice for cross-museum discovery — public-domain works aggregated across many institutions, browsable by colour, subject and movement, with a museum atlas and a made-to-order print store.
The Met Open Access is one of the great open-culture initiatives. The Metropolitan Museum of Art released around 492,000 images of its collection under CC0, backed by deep curatorial metadata and a clean public API — for any work the Met holds, it is the definitive source and impossible to beat on authority. Artifact World Gallery serves a different need: rather than one museum in depth, it is a discovery layer across many institutions, designed for exploring by colour, subject and movement and for following art out into the real world.
Updated June 2026
| Feature | The Met Open Access | Artifact World Gallery |
|---|---|---|
| Scope Different by design — single-institution authority vs cross-institutional discovery. | One museum, in depth — the Met’s own collection | Cross-museum layer over many institutions (5,092 venues) |
| Open-access images The Met’s own set is larger; Artifact spans more institutions, not one. | ~492,000 CC0 images (Met-held works) | 193,000+ public-domain artworks across museums |
| Scholarly metadata The Met Open Access ✓ | Deep curatorial records + provenance | Discovery-oriented metadata (colour, subject, movement, period) |
| Browse by colour / subject / movement Artifact ✓ | Search + departmental filters; no colour or movement facets | Browse by 10 colour palettes, 380+ subjects, 200+ movements |
| Museums / real-world Artifact ✓ | The Met’s own locations | Museum atlas of 5,092 venues across the world |
| Download & rights | Free CC0 high-res downloads + a public API | Free high-res CC0 downloads (public domain) |
| Prints Artifact ✓ | Met Store / Met Custom Prints — a curated subset | Full-catalogue made-to-order prints, framed & canvas |
| Developer API The Met Open Access ✓ | Public Open Access API | No public API (browsable website + iOS app) |
Met figures are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access policy + API documentation (metmuseum.org, June 2026); the ~492,000 count is approximate and covers Met-held works only.
Choose The Met Open Access if…
Choose The Met Open Access if you want the Metropolitan Museum of Art specifically — one of the world’s great collections, released CC0 with elite scholarly metadata, provenance and a public API. For any work the Met holds, it is the authoritative source, and nothing here improves on that depth.
Visit The Met Open Access ↗Choose Artifact World Gallery if…
Choose Artifact World Gallery if you want to discover across many museums rather than dive into one — to browse public-domain art by colour, subject and movement, explore a museum atlas spanning the world, and turn favourites into made-to-order prints.
Questions
What is the best alternative to The Met Open Access?
Artifact World Gallery is the closest alternative if you want one collection drawn from thousands of venues rather than a single museum. It aggregates public-domain art across many institutions into a colour-, subject- and movement-led browse, maps it on a museum atlas, and lets you order any work as a print. For Met-held works specifically, the Met’s own Open Access site remains the authoritative source.
Is the Met collection free to download?
Yes — the Metropolitan Museum of Art has released roughly 492,000 images of its collection under a CC0 (public domain) designation, free to download in high resolution with no fee or permission required, and accessible through its public Open Access API.
Does The Met Open Access have works from other museums?
No. The Met Open Access covers only works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s own collection. Artifact World Gallery is different by design — it aggregates public-domain art across many institutions, so you can discover works held in museums far beyond the Met.
Which has more open-access images, The Met or Artifact World Gallery?
The Met’s own open-access set is larger — roughly 492,000 CC0 images from its single collection, versus about 193,000 public-domain artworks in Artifact World Gallery. The difference is scope: the Met covers one museum in depth, while Artifact spans many institutions for cross-museum discovery, colour and subject browsing, and prints.
Bottom line. The Met Open Access wins for single-museum authority, scholarly depth and its API over the Met’s own collection. Artifact World Gallery wins for cross-museum discovery, colour/subject/movement browsing and prints — pick by whether you want the Met in depth or many museums together.