Using Search

The Metropolitan Museum’s website search operates similarly to other site searches and major search engines. The search box allows you to enter one or more words to use for searching. The search looks for pages that contain all of the words entered into the search box. The dropdown box immediately below the search box allows you to specify the section of the site you want to search. Unless you specify otherwise, the search function will automatically limit your search to the section of the site you are presently in. For example, if you are in the Timeline of Art History, the dropdown will show Timeline.

The Advanced Search allows you to specify whether the search results should contain any or all of the words entered, enter an exact phrase, or exclude words from the search. The Advanced Search also allows you to create a Boolean search by using the dropdown boxes to specify whether you want and or or between words. You may also limit the search to specific sections of the site.

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How Results Are Returned

Results are returned in two ways.

• A Summary at the top of the Results Page lists the total number of results, followed by the number of results found in each of the site’s main sections (Works of Art, Membership, Visitor Information, Calendar, Special Exhibitions, Press Room, and Miscellaneous, and The Met Store).
• Below the Summary, the two most relevant results for each section are displayed with a link to all of the results for that section. Clicking on a section name (for example, Works of Art) will take you to all the results for Works of Art. You may also choose to View All Results or, on some pages, sort results by a number of different criteria.

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Quick Tips

• Searching is not case-sensitive.
• All punctuation marks are ignored except for question marks (?), asterisks (*), and quotation marks (see below)—searching for Paris, France is the same as searching for Paris France.
• Commonly or frequently occurring words such as and, any, be, but, for, from, is, or, that, and the are ignored when searching.
• Accent marks are ignored. You may enter words either with or without the accented characters. For example, searching for Cezanne or Cézanne will always yield the same results.
• Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase ("Virgin and Child").
• Misspelled words will generally be found. If a word has multiple spellings (Brueghel and Bruegel), or you are unsure of the spelling, you may use a question mark (?) to replace a single character or an asterisk (*) to replace multiple characters (Br*g*l).
• The search will not recognize partial words (Brit for Britain or British) unless you use an asterisk (*) at the end, middle, or beginning of the partial word (Brit*).
• The search uses word stemming to provide more relevant results. For example, if you search for the word paintings, the results may contain the words paint, paints, painting, painter, and painters, etc. This means that you can enter words in either singular or plural form.

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Narrowing Your Search

Apart from restricting your search to a specific section of the site, there are other ways you can narrow your search.

You can restrict your search to give fewer results by adding extra search terms. For example, searching for Monet landscape will give fewer, more focused results than searching for just Monet.

You may also limit your results by entering a word or words in the box found after Search within Results at the top of the Search results page.

Using the entire-site Advanced Search, Permanent Collection Advanced Search, or Calendar Advanced Search will give you even more control.

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Related Searches

The search has a built-in thesaurus that suggests a list of Related Searches when certain words are entered. For example, if you search for painting, suggested Related Searches include oil on canvas, ink, watercolor, oil, and oil on wood. Clicking on the related term will automatically begin a new search.

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Suggested Results

The search will sometimes provide Suggested Results based on the best or typical answer for a word. For example, if you search for hours, the Suggested Results will display information about Museum hours rather than Book of Hours

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Searching the Permanent Collection

The Metropolitan Museum’s online Permanent Collection contains images and information on more than 6,000 works of art. The Permanent Collection Advanced Search provides a powerful tool for quickly searching all information relating to the collection. Your search will find any words that occur within the Permanent Collection pages, including specific references to artist names, titles, creation date, country of origin, medium, provenance, and all descriptive text.

Within specific search boxes (for example, Artist or Maker), you may use and and or to refine your search. If you enter Corot as the Artist or Maker and lane and trees as the Title of Work, the search will locate all works by Corot in the Metropolitan's online Permanent Collection with the words lane and trees in the title.

Within specific search boxes (for example, Title of Work or Type of Object) you may also use quotation marks to designate an exact match. If you enter "Virgin and Child," you will get all of the works with that title.

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Searching the Calendar

The online Calendar contains information about a wide variety of events and programs related to the Museum's permanent collection and special exhibitions.

The Calendar Advanced Search allows you to search for specific events based on your interests, or a specific date, time, or location. Selecting an Event Type and a Subject will narrow your search. For example, if you select Lecture as an Event Type and European Paintings as a Subject, then only lectures about European paintings will be displayed.

You may also search by keyword, such as Monet, or Sign Language. Within the Keyword or Phrase box, you may use and and or to refine your search or use quotation marks to designate an exact match. You may also use an asterisk at the end of a partial word (paint*), or a question mark to designate an unknown letter (van g?gh).

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