Best art destinations in North America
Best art destinations in North America
World-class urban museums and street art neighborhoods in North America
North America's art offer is anchored by some of the world's most significant museum collections, built during periods of concentrated private wealth and institutional ambition that brought extraordinary holdings of both historical and contemporary work into public access. The continent's major cities have developed distinct gallery districts and contemporary scenes alongside the flagship institutions, with artist communities and commercial infrastructure that make several cities genuine centres of international art production.
The contemporary art market is deeply embedded in the continent's leading cities, with art fairs, auction houses and commercial gallery programmes driving a calendar of events that draws serious collectors and visitors from around the world. Public art programmes across several cities have placed significant commissions into everyday urban environments, making art encounters outside institutional walls a genuine part of the urban experience in the strongest markets.
Museum admission costs vary considerably, with some of the world's greatest collections available for free while others charge substantial fees. Advance booking for blockbuster exhibitions is essential and timed entry is standard at the most visited institutions. Art fair periods drive accommodation price increases in host cities and require early planning. Several cities outside the main coastal art centres have developed collections and scenes of genuine quality that reward research beyond the obvious destinations.
Lists by region
State/Prefecture in United States
New York (state)
Beyond the city that never sleeps
From April to November, Storm King Art Center in the Hudson Valley is open, with large steel sculptures set across 500 acres of fields and hills that turn red and gold in October. Dia Beacon, a former factory with huge minimalist works, is a short train ride from the city.
City in United States
Washington, D.C.
Capital of History and Culture
Smaller and quieter than the big museums on the National Mall, the Phillips Collection in a Dupont Circle townhouse has Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. Its Rothko Room has paintings by Mark Rothko in a home like setting while the Mall's museums are a short Metro ride away.
City in United States
New York City
Five boroughs of skyline, food and museums
Gallery hopping in Chelsea is a New York habit, with free openings often held on Thursday evenings and dozens of galleries within a few blocks of the High Line. Farther uptown, the Guggenheim spiral by Frank Lloyd Wright stands on Museum Mile along Fifth Avenue.
City in United States
Boston
Historic charm meets modern innovation
By the terms of Isabella Stewart Gardner's will, the paintings in her museum must stay arranged as she left them, so empty frames still hang where thieves took works in 1990. Nearby, the Museum of Fine Arts has a large collection of Impressionist paintings and Egyptian art.
City in United States
Los Angeles
The city of stars, beaches and dreams
The Broad, a downtown museum with a honeycomb shaped white front, has work by Jeff Koons and Yayoi Kusama and free general admission. Elsewhere in Los Angeles, street murals in the Arts District and Venice and the galleries of Culver City add more art to see in a city that makes a lot of it.
City in United States
New Orleans
Jazz, Creole Flavors and Mardi Gras Vibes
On the edge of the Mississippi River, artists in Jackson Square set up paintings along the iron fence beside St. Louis Cathedral. In City Park, the New Orleans Museum of Art and its free sculpture garden sit among oak trees while galleries line Julia Street in the Warehouse District.
City in Canada
Montreal
A city of festivals, food and culture
The smell of fresh paint and the sound of street music are part of the MURAL festival each June, when artists cover walls along Saint-Laurent Boulevard in giant paintings. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and many small galleries in the Plateau area are open all year.
Art Gallery in Ottawa
National Gallery of Canada
Canada's Premier Art Destination
Founded in 1880, the national art museum of Canada moved in 1988 into a glass and granite building by Moshe Safdie beside the Ottawa River. A giant steel spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois is on the plaza while inside are Indigenous art, Group of Seven landscapes and the rebuilt interior of a chapel.
Art Museum in Philadelphia
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Epic art and iconic steps
Footsteps echo in the great stone halls where Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Marcel Duchamp's The Large Glass are on view next to a hall of medieval armour. Outside, runners cheer at the top of the steps made famous by the Rocky films, with a long view down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Art Gallery in Toronto
Art Gallery of Ontario
Toronto’s Artistic Treasure Trove
A blue titanium front and a spiral wooden staircase designed by Frank Gehry, who grew up in Toronto, are the signature features of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Inside is a large collection of Henry Moore sculpture and Canadian paintings by the Group of Seven, who painted wild northern landscapes in the early 1900s.
Museum in Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago
A Treasure Trove of Artistic Masterpieces
On Michigan Avenue beside Millennium Park, the museum has two bronze lions at the door and inside Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Hopper's Nighthawks and Grant Wood's American Gothic. A footbridge from the Modern Wing leads to the park, so a gallery visit and a lakefront walk fit together.
Art Museum in Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
West Coast's Premier Art Museum
On Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, the museum has Chris Burden's Urban Light, a field of 202 restored street lamps. Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass, a giant boulder over a walkway, is also on the grounds while the La Brea Tar Pits, with real Ice Age fossils, are next door.
City in United States
Chicago
Skyline, Deep-Dish and Jazz Nights
Like an open air museum, the city has art on its streets. The untitled Picasso sculpture in Daley Plaza and Cloud Gate, a mirror like steel sculpture in Millennium Park that people call the Bean, are free to see. Wall murals in Pilsen and the galleries of the West Loop add more to see.
City in Mexico
Mexico City
Vibrant Culture, History and Street Food
After the revolution of 1910 the government asked artists such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco to paint huge murals on public buildings. Many can still be seen in the historic centre while Frida Kahlo's blue house in Coyoacan, the Casa Azul, is now a museum.
Art Museum in New York City
MoMA
Modern Art's New York Landmark
Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Andy Warhol's soup cans are among the works at MoMA in Midtown Manhattan. One visit is a walk through the story of modern art, with a sculpture garden as a quiet place to rest between floors.
Museum in Washington, D.C.
Smithsonian Institution
World's Largest Museum Complex
More like a small city of museums than a single gallery, the Smithsonian has 21 museums. Art is found in the American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Hirshhorn and the National Museum of Asian Art, while almost all of them are free to enter.
Museum in Mexico City
Palacio de Bellas Artes
Mexico's Cultural and Artistic Jewel
In the afternoon, light from a colourful glass ceiling falls on the main hall of this white marble palace beside Alameda Central park. Murals by Diego Rivera and Siqueiros fill the walls of the upper floors while the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico performs on the stage most weeks.
Art Museum in Los Angeles
Getty Center
Art, Architecture and Gardens United
White travertine walls glow in the afternoon sun at the Getty Center, where gardens smell of sage and jasmine and a tram climbs the hill above Los Angeles. Inside are Van Gogh's Irises, European paintings, old illuminated manuscripts and photographs, while entry to the museum is free.
Museum in San Francisco
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
West Coast’s modern art powerhouse
Since a large expansion in 2016, SFMOMA has seven floors of galleries with works by Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. The free art spaces on the ground floor are open to anyone who walks in from the street, so even a short visit is worthwhile.
Art Museum in New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
World's Premier Art Collection
Founded in 1870 by a group of citizens and artists, this museum moved into its Central Park building in 1880. It now has more than a million works, including a real Egyptian temple, the Temple of Dendur, in a glass hall. A rooftop terrace has views over the park in warm months.
Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
National Gallery of Art
Masterpieces Across Centuries
Free admission is the rule at the National Gallery of Art on the National Mall, so visitors drop in for an hour or a whole day. Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci is the sole painting by him in the Americas while the sculpture garden has an ice rink in winter.
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