Does it need an internet connection?

Yes — it reads a live source, so it needs a connection to update.

Yes — free, no download, in your browser.

Can I reuse these images?

The museum releases CC0 works for use in any medium without permission or fee and with no attribution required, but only works marked CC0 have downloadable images, so check the record for the specific item.

Why are some dates given as ranges or c.?

Many works cannot be dated exactly, so catalogue entries use approximations such as circa or a span of years.

Cleveland Museum of Art Screensaver

The Cleveland Museum of Art screensaver shows real works from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access collection, gathered key-less by the background pipeline and shown full-frame with title, artist and date. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.

How the Cleveland Museum of Art screensaver works

The background pipeline reads this from Cleveland Museum of Art and saves a snapshot the saver loads.

Real works from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access collection, gathered key-less by the background pipeline and shown full-frame with title, artist and date..

It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.

Colours and the accent can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.

Open access at the Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art, founded in 1913, launched its Open Access program on 23 January 2019, releasing images and data under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) dedication. Works designated CC0 can be used in any medium without permission or fee and need no attribution. The museum offers a public Open Access API that requires no key, and publishes the full dataset in JSON and CSV on GitHub.

Each record carries descriptive fields that the saver surfaces, such as a title, the artist and a date for the work. Image files come in several sizes; the web size is a JPEG of 900 pixels on the longest side, so a work is shown at web resolution and not the full file. The data is updated automatically each day.

Only part of the collection has downloadable images. Metadata exists for every object in the collection, including works still under copyright, but image downloads are limited to CC0 works. Dates are the museum’s cataloguing and are sometimes approximate, and attributions are updated as scholarship changes.

A worked example

Real works from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access collection, gathered key-less by the background pipeline and shown full-frame with title, artist and date.

Settings & tips

Accent and Background recolour the display.
Run automation/run.py clevelandart to refresh the feed.
Press ESC to leave fullscreen.

Frequently asked questions

Is this real data?: Yes — it comes from Cleveland Museum of Art and is refreshed on a schedule.
Is a key needed?: No. This source is fully key-less.
Does it need an internet connection?: Yes — it reads a live source, so it needs a connection to update.
Is it free?: Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
Can I reuse these images?: The museum releases CC0 works for use in any medium without permission or fee and with no attribution required, but only works marked CC0 have downloadable images, so check the record for the specific item.
Why are some dates given as ranges or c.?: Many works cannot be dated exactly, so catalogue entries use approximations such as circa or a span of years.

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