1. Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian has 11 museums and galleries in DC, six museums and the National Zoo outside of DC and two museums in New York City.
Go to Washington DC for the nation’s first collection of American art at Smithsonian America Art Museum. It is also home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Browse through early American art, 19th century, 20th century, contemporary art, and more.
2. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Did you know the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has three locations? The Met Fifth Avenue, Met Breuer, and Met Cloisters. The Met Cloisters is dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The Met Breuer is a museum for modern and contemporary art.
3. Art Institute of Chicago
Since 1891 when Bertha and Potter Palmer acquired 20 paintings by Monet, the Art Institute of Chicago has kept up with the collection by this French artist. Today the Art Institute of Chicago has the most extensive collection of Monet’s painting outside of Paris, with 33 paintings and 13 drawings by the artist.
Besides a space dedicated to Monet’s art, the Art Institute of Chicago is best known for Grant Wood’s American Gothic, The Bedroom by Van Gogh, and Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.
4. MassArt Art Museum
MassArt Art Museum in Boston is the newest art museum in the US. This contemporary art museum is a non-collecting museum (Kunsthalle), meaning there are no permanent exhibitions.
It’s a teaching museum, and there’s also a creative lab where visitors can participate in creating their artwork.
5. Salvador Dali Museum
The Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, has the largest collection of Dali’s art outside of Spain. There are over 2,400 pieces of his work, which include 300 oil paintings, watercolors and drawings, and 2,100 prints, textiles, photographs, sculptures and posters.
Most of the art pieces were privately owned by A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse until the mid-1970s when the couple donated the entire collection to the people of St. Petersburg.
6. Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum has over 1.5 million works housed in the 560,000 square feet Neo-classical revival style building in Brooklyn, one of the boroughs of New York City.
Some of the famous pieces include Woman in Gray by Picasso, Standing Woman, a sculpture by Gaston Lachaise, and about 140 objects about Coney Island.
