Sample queries of enhanced MoMA data

See Data wrangling, feature engineering, and dada for more on this.

Because size calculations all start with measurements in centimeters, area figures are in square centimeters and volume in cubic centimeters.

Queries that return information about individual works usually include OPTIONAL { ?s owl:sameAs ?url } because the MoMA URL for a work take you right to their individual page about it. (OPTIONAL because they're not always there.)

All queries assume these prefix declarations:

PREFIX  dc:    <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/>
PREFIX  rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
PREFIX  r:     <http://rdvocab.info/ElementsGr2/>
PREFIX  rdaGr2: <http://RDVocab.info/ElementsGr2/>
PREFIX  ci:    <http://www.cidoc-crm.org/cidoc-crm/>
PREFIX  xsd:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>
PREFIX  owl:   <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#>
PREFIX  m:     <http://rdfdata.org/models/moma/>

What’s the single largest painting?

SELECT ?title ?area ?artist ?url
WHERE { 
  ?work m:heightCm ?height;
        m:widthCm ?width ;
        rdfs:label ?title ;
        m:classification "Painting" ;
        dc:creator ?artist ;
        OPTIONAL { ?work owl:sameAs ?url }
   BIND(?height * ?width AS ?area)
}
ORDER BY DESC(?area)
LIMIT 1

title	area	artist	url
F-111	798972.24	James Rosenquist	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/79805

What’s the largest photograph?

SELECT ?title ?area ?artist ?url
WHERE { 
  ?work m:classification "Photograph" ;
        m:heightCm ?height;
        m:widthCm ?width ;
        rdfs:label ?title ;
        owl:sameAs ?url ;
        dc:creator ?artist .
   BIND(?height * ?width AS ?area)
}
ORDER BY DESC(?area)
LIMIT 1

title	area	artist	url
11	232257.60	Mariah Robertson	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/163921

What’s the largest three-dimensional work?

SELECT ?title ?volume ?artist ?url
WHERE { 
  ?work m:heightCm ?height;
         m:widthCm ?width ;
         m:depthCm ?depth ;
         rdfs:label ?title ;
         dc:creator ?artist . 
   OPTIONAL {?work owl:sameAs ?url }
   BIND(?height * ?width * ?depth AS ?volume)
}
ORDER BY DESC(?volume)
LIMIT 1

title	volume	artist	url
Stations	1418631250.000	Bill Viola	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/81737

How many painters come from each country?

This one used a subquery.

SELECT ?nationality (COUNT(?nationality) AS ?artistCount)
WHERE {
   SELECT DISTINCT ?artist ?nationality 
   WHERE { 
     ?work m:classification "Painting" ;
           dc:creator ?artist ;
           rdaGr2:countryAssociatedWithThePerson ?nationality . 
   }
}
GROUP BY ?nationality
ORDER BY desc(?artistCount)

nationality	artistCount
American	494
French	89
German	56
British	46
Italian	41
Russian	18
Argentine	17
Japanese	16
Brazilian	14
Belgian	13
Canadian	13
Spanish	13
Dutch	12
Mexican	12
Swiss	11
Polish	9
Austrian	8
Cuban	8
Australian	7
Israeli	6
Indian	5
Peruvian	5
Colombian	4
Haitian	4
Danish	3
Hungarian	3
Swedish	3
Venezuelan	3
Chilean	2
Croatian	2
Icelandic	2
Iranian	2
Irish	2
Korean	2
Turkish	2
Uruguayan	2
Yugoslav	2
Zimbabwean	2
Bolivian	1
Congolese	1
Czech	1
Ghanaian	1
Guatemalan	1
Guyanese	1
Moroccan	1
Nicaraguan	1
Norwegian	1
Romanian	1
South	1
Sudanese	1
Tanzanian	1
Ukrainian	1
born	1

What’s the average painting size by country?

Note the comment about the HAVING statement.

SELECT ?nationality (round(AVG(?area)) AS ?averageArea)(
       count(?work) AS ?paintings)
WHERE { 
  ?work m:classification "Painting" ;
        m:heightCm ?height;
        m:widthCm ?width ;
        rdaGr2:countryAssociatedWithThePerson ?nationality . 
   BIND(?height * ?width AS ?area)
}
GROUP BY ?nationality
# We'll consider fewer than 11 paintings to 
# be an unrepresentative sample.
HAVING(?paintings > 10)
ORDER BY DESC(?averageArea)

nationality	averageArea	paintings
American	28244	1098
German	23503	123
British	22791	78
Japanese	22703	22
Italian	21889	77
Swiss	21538	19
Canadian	19415	13
Argentine	18665	19
Spanish	16155	96
French	14209	327
Brazilian	13224	15
Austrian	12761	13
Mexican	12341	28
Cuban	10423	11
Belgian	9813	35
Dutch	8277	35
Polish	7448	15
Russian	6758	32

What are the oldest pieces in the collection and who made them?

Now you can see why the owl:samAs property is optional (and why I created my own URIs to represent the works instead of just using the MoMA ones—because they don't all have them).

SELECT ?workFinishDate ?title ?artist ?medium ?url
WHERE { 
  ?work m:workFinishDate ?workFinishDate ;
        rdfs:label ?title ;
        ci:P2_has_type ?medium ;
        dc:creator ?artist .
  OPTIONAL { ?work owl:sameAs ?url }
}
ORDER BY ?workFinishDate
LIMIT 5

workFinishDate	title	artist	medium	url
1600	Woman	unknown	Double warp silk brocade
1768	Coffee Pot and Lid	Josiah Wedgwood	Black basalt with glazed interior	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/91975
1768	Demitasse Cup and Saucer	Josiah Wedgwood	Black basalt with glazed interior	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/91977
1768	Partial Coffee and Tea Service	Josiah Wedgwood	Black basalt with glazed interior	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/2767
1768	Sugar Bowl	Josiah Wedgwood	Black basalt with glazed interior	http://www.moma.org/collection/works/91978

Who are the five youngest painters with work in the collection?

Without DISTINCT, each would have been listed on a new row for each painting that they had.

SELECT DISTINCT ?artist ?birthYear
WHERE { 
     ?work m:classification "Painting" ;
    	   dc:creator ?artist ;
           rdaGr2:dateOfBirth ?birthYear .
}
ORDER BY desc(?birthYear)
LIMIT 5

artist	birthYear
1984	Adam Pendleton
1983	Ryan Sullivan
1982	Alex Israel
1981	Tauba Auerbach
1980	Kerstin Brätsch, Adele Röder