BEST ART MUSEUMS
The world's great art collections
From old masters to contemporary work — the museums that define how we understand art history.
Argentina
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Buenos Aires · Argentine & European Art
Argentina's national fine arts museum, holding the country's most important public art collection, spanning Argentine artists and European masters from the Renaissance to the modern era.
Australia
National Gallery of Australia
Canberra · Australian & International Art
Australia's national art museum, holding the country's largest art collection. It is especially strong in Australian and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, alongside international works.
Austria
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Vienna · Old Masters · Habsburg Collections
Built to house the imperial Habsburg collections, it holds major Old Master paintings, including the world's largest group of works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Belvedere
Vienna · Austrian Art · Klimt's The Kiss
Set in a Baroque palace complex, it holds the largest collection of Gustav Klimt paintings, centered on The Kiss, alongside Austrian art from the medieval era onward.
Albertina
Vienna · Graphic Arts · Monet to Picasso
Housed in a former Habsburg residence, it holds one of the world's largest and most important collections of prints and drawings, including works by Dürer alongside modern painting.
Brazil
MASP — São Paulo Museum of Art
São Paulo · European & Brazilian Art
A landmark of Brazilian modernism by Lina Bo Bardi, its main volume raised on red pillars over an open plaza. It holds the most significant collection of European art in the Southern Hemisphere.
Canada
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa · Canadian Art · European Old Masters
Canada's national art museum, housed in a glass-and-granite building by Moshe Safdie. It holds the country's largest collection of Canadian art, including works by the Group of Seven.
China
National Museum of China
Beijing · Chinese History & Art
One of the world's largest museums by floor area, on the east side of Tiananmen Square. Its permanent galleries trace Chinese history and civilization from prehistory to the present.
France
Louvre Museum
Paris · Encyclopedic · All eras
The world's most visited museum, housed in a former royal palace on the Seine. Its collection spans antiquity to the mid-19th century, anchored by the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.
Musée d'Orsay
Paris · Impressionism · Post-Impressionism
Set in a former Beaux-Arts railway station, it holds the world's largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces, including works by Monet, Renoir, Degas, and Van Gogh.
Centre Pompidou
Paris · Modern · Contemporary
Known for its radical inside-out high-tech architecture, it houses Europe's largest collection of modern and contemporary art, spanning the 20th century to today.
Musée de l'Orangerie
Paris · Impressionism · Monet's Water Lilies
A former royal greenhouse in the Tuileries, best known for two oval rooms displaying Monet's monumental Water Lilies murals, alongside an Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection.
Musée Rodin
Paris · Sculpture · Auguste Rodin
Dedicated to the sculptor Auguste Rodin, set in the 18th-century Hôtel Biron and its gardens. Highlights include The Thinker, The Kiss, and The Gates of Hell.
Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille
Lille · Old Masters & 19th Century
One of the largest fine-arts museums in France outside Paris, created by the Revolution’s decree of 1801 and housed in a purpose-built Belle Époque palace, with Flemish and Dutch painting alongside a rare set of 18th-century relief maps of fortified towns.
Germany
Pergamon Museum
Berlin · Ancient Near Eastern · Classical Antiquities
Part of Berlin's Museum Island, it is renowned for monumental reconstructed structures, including the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon.
Alte Nationalgalerie
Berlin · 19th Century · Impressionism & Romanticism
A temple-like building on Museum Island housing 19th-century art, from German Romanticism and the works of Caspar David Friedrich to French and German Impressionism.
Städel Museum
Frankfurt · Old Masters to Contemporary
Founded in 1815 by a banker’s bequest as one of the first civic art foundations in Germany, covering 700 years of European painting from the Old Masters to the present, with a daylit underground contemporary wing added in 2012.
Israel
Israel Museum
Jerusalem · Encyclopedic · Archaeology
Israel's largest cultural institution, spanning archaeology and fine art. Its Shrine of the Book displays the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the grounds include a model of Second Temple-era Jerusalem.
Italy
Uffizi Gallery
Florence · Renaissance
Housed in a 16th-century Medici administrative building, it holds one of the finest collections of Italian Renaissance painting, including Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera.
Vatican Museums
Vatican City · Renaissance · Classical Antiquities
A vast complex displaying art amassed by the popes over centuries. The route culminates in the Raphael Rooms and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Galleria dell'Accademia
Florence · Renaissance Sculpture
Best known as the home of Michelangelo's original David, moved here in 1873. It also holds his unfinished Prisoners and a collection of Florentine paintings.
Galleria Borghese
Rome · Baroque · Bernini & Caravaggio
A former cardinal's villa set in landscaped gardens, renowned for its Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio paintings. Timed entry limits visitor numbers to preserve the intimate galleries.
Pinacoteca di Brera
Milan · Renaissance · Italian Old Masters
Milan's main public gallery, occupying a grand palazzo shared with an art academy. It is celebrated for northern Italian painting, including works by Raphael, Mantegna, and Piero della Francesca.
Japan
Tokyo National Museum
Tokyo · Japanese & Asian Art
Japan's oldest and largest museum, set in Ueno Park. It holds the country's most comprehensive collection of Japanese art and antiquities, including numerous designated National Treasures.
National Museum of Western Art
Tokyo · Western Art · UNESCO World Heritage
Japan's principal museum of Western art, built around the Matsukata collection. Its Le Corbusier-designed main building is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Netherlands
Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam · Dutch Golden Age
The Netherlands' national museum, devoted to Dutch art and history. Its Gallery of Honour centers on Rembrandt's The Night Watch and paintings by Vermeer and Frans Hals.
Van Gogh Museum
Amsterdam · Post-Impressionism
Holds the world's largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, including paintings, drawings, and letters, tracing his career alongside works by his contemporaries.
Qatar
Museum of Islamic Art
Doha · Islamic Art
Designed by I. M. Pei on its own island in Doha Bay, it holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Islamic art, spanning manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles across continents.
Russia
Hermitage Museum
St. Petersburg · Encyclopedic · European Old Masters
One of the world's largest museums, spread across the former Winter Palace and adjoining buildings. Its holdings span antiquity to modern art, including works by Rembrandt and da Vinci.
South Korea
National Museum of Korea
Seoul · Korean Art & History
The flagship museum of Korean history and art, and one of the largest in Asia. Its collection ranges from prehistoric artifacts to Buddhist sculpture, celadon ceramics, and calligraphy.
Spain
Prado Museum
Madrid · Spanish Old Masters · Baroque
Spain's national art museum, holding the finest collection of Spanish painting anywhere. It is anchored by masterworks from Velázquez, Goya, and El Greco.
Reina Sofía Museum
Madrid · Modern · Contemporary
Spain's national museum of 20th-century art, set in a former hospital. Its centerpiece is Picasso's Guernica, alongside significant holdings of Dalí and Miró.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
Madrid · Encyclopedic · Renaissance to 20th Century
Built around a private collection assembled by the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, it traces Western painting from the medieval period through the 20th century, filling gaps left by the nearby Prado.
Picasso Museum
Barcelona · Pablo Picasso · Early Works
Spread across five medieval mansions, it holds one of the most extensive collections of Picasso's work, with a particular focus on his formative years and Barcelona period.
Taiwan
National Palace Museum
Taipei · Chinese Imperial Art
Holds one of the largest collections of Chinese imperial artifacts, drawn from the former Beijing palace collection. Highlights include the Jadeite Cabbage and the Meat-Shaped Stone.
United Arab Emirates
Louvre Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi · Encyclopedic
An encyclopedic museum created through an agreement with France, under a vast latticed dome by Jean Nouvel that filters light as a "rain of light" over galleries linking world cultures.
United Kingdom
British Museum
London · Ancient · Classical Antiquities
A vast survey of human history and culture, holding some eight million objects. Highlights include the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles, and Egyptian mummies.
National Gallery
London · Renaissance · Old Masters
Overlooking Trafalgar Square, it holds a comprehensive collection of Western European painting from the 13th to the early 20th century, with works by Van Eyck, Turner, and Van Gogh.
Tate Modern
London · Modern · Contemporary
Britain's national museum of modern and contemporary art, converted from the former Bankside Power Station on the Thames. The vast Turbine Hall hosts large-scale commissioned installations.
United States
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City · Encyclopedic · All eras
The largest art museum in the Americas, lining Central Park's Museum Mile. Its encyclopedic collection ranges from Egyptian antiquities and European paintings to American and modern art.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
New York City · Modern · Contemporary
A defining institution of modern art in Midtown Manhattan, holding landmark works such as Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York City · Modern · Abstract
Famous for its spiraling Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda, it holds a collection of modern and contemporary art, with strengths in Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and abstract work.
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago · Impressionism · American Art
One of the largest US art museums, known for its French Impressionist holdings and iconic American works, including Grant Wood's American Gothic and Hopper's Nighthawks.
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C. · Encyclopedic · Western Art
On the National Mall, it surveys Western art from the Middle Ages to the present and holds the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas. Admission is free.
Getty Center
Los Angeles · European Old Masters · Photography
A hilltop campus of Richard Meier travertine pavilions and gardens, holding European paintings, drawings, sculpture, and photography. Admission is free.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia · Encyclopedic · European & American Art
Set in a Greek Revival building whose entrance steps were made famous by the film Rocky. Its collection spans European, American, and Asian art across two millennia.
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston · Encyclopedic · Impressionism & Asian Art
One of the largest museums in the United States, with encyclopedic holdings notable for French Impressionism, ancient Egyptian works, and one of the finest Asian art collections in the West.
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York City · American Art · Contemporary
Focused on 20th- and 21st-century American art, now housed in a Renzo Piano building in the Meatpacking District. It is the home of the recurring Whitney Biennial.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Los Angeles · Encyclopedic · All eras
The largest art museum in the western United States, with encyclopedic holdings spanning global cultures and eras. Chris Burden's Urban Light installation stands at its entrance.
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Santa Fe · Georgia O’Keeffe
Opened in 1997 and devoted to a single artist, holding the largest collection of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work anywhere — around 3,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures, plus her Abiquiú home and studio north of the city.