The art museums in South Korea are mostly small-scaled institutions with small amount of art works. Thus, internationally accepted metadata standards such as CDWA and VRA Core may not be efficient to manage their collections. Because of these distinct local characteristics, there is a need to create a set of metadata elements that can be used for the art museum community in the country. This research aims to propose a set of metadata elements customized to fit into the context of small-scaled art museums in South Korea. The construction of the element set was not from scratch but on the basis of existing standards such as CDWA, VRA Core, and Dublin Core. By identifying core elements that are indispensable in describing art works and collecting opinions of experts in art museums, the proposed set of metadata elements is expected to support the operation and management of art works and satisfy the localized needs of the art museum community.