You don’t need to venture overseas to explore some of the world’s finest art collections! In fact, many world-class art museums are located right here in the United States.
Even if you’re not planning a trip entirely around art, chances are that there is at least a museum or two that will command your attention in nearly every major U.S. city that you plan to visit.
Filled with masterpieces and captivating temporary exhibits, art museums provide an educational and enlightening experience for individuals of every age. Below our team at HotelCoupons.com have outlined our must-see art museums across the country:
National Gallery of Art
Washington D.C.
The National Gallery of Art—the nation’s museum—preserves, collects, exhibits, and fosters an understanding of works of art. This historic museum has been serving art enthusiasts since 1941, and attendees can see European and American art from the 13th through 20th centuries. Temporary exhibitions span the world and the history of art, and free programs, including lectures, tours, concerts, films, and family activities, are offered year-round. The museum located on the National Mall between Third and Ninth Streets at Constitution Avenue Admission is always free.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Los Angeles, California
Since its inception in 1965, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been devoted to collecting works of art that span both history and geography. The largest art museum in the western United States, LACMA’s collection includes nearly 130,000 objects dating from antiquity to the present. Among the museum’s strengths are its holdings of Asian art, Latin American art, ranging from pre-Columbian masterpieces to works by leading modern and contemporary artists.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, PA
Like Philadelphia’s own Parthenon, the Philadelphia Museum of Art sits majestically on a rise at the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The vast collections of this temple of art make it the third-largest art museum in the country, and an absolute must-see on the city’s cultural circuit. The Museum began as a legacy of the great Centennial Exhibition of 1876, held in Fairmount Park. More than 116,000 objects from the Museum’s collection of over 240,000 are available in the online collections database.
Museum of Modern Art
New York, New York
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds, and provides inspiration. Although the word “modern” is in its name, that’s just a part of the extensive collection. After a two-year renovation based on a design by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, MoMA reopened in 2004 with almost double the space to display some of the most impressive artworks from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. MoMA’s evolving collection contains almost 200,000 works of modern and contemporary art, including Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and features masterpieces of more than 13,000 artists.
Seattle Art Museum
Seattle, Washington
The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as “SAM”) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. The museum was founded in 1933 and boasts 24,000 works throughout three separate facilities. The SAM collection has grown from 1,926 pieces in 1933 to nearly 25,000 as of 2008. Its original museum provided an area of 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2); the present facilities provide 312,000 square plus a 9-acre park.
Have you visited any of these museums before? Would you like to add any museums to our list? Comment below and tell us about your favorite museums to visit in the United States!
