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Best art destinations in North America

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New York City
Five boroughs of skyline, food and museums
9.5
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌃 Visit Times Square at night for unforgettable neon views
  • 🎭 Watch a Broadway musical in the Theater District
  • 🏙️ Admire skyline views from the Top of a skyscraper
Washington, D.C.
Capital of History and Culture
8.8
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.
Highlights:
  • 🖼️ Explore the Smithsonian museums along the National Mall
  • 🕊️ Visit the Lincoln Memorial and reflect by the Reflecting Pool
  • 🏛️ Tour the U.S. Capitol and see American democracy in action
Boston
Historic charm meets modern innovation
8.3
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌳 Explore the Boston Common and Public Garden
  • 🎓 Tour Harvard University’s famous campus in Cambridge
  • 🚶‍♂️ Walk the historic Freedom Trail through downtown Boston
New York (state)
Beyond the city that never sleeps
8.8
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌳 Walk through Central Park and row across the lake
  • 🏙️ Admire New York City from the Empire State Building
  • 💦 Stand beneath the roaring Niagara Falls mist
Chicago
Skyline, Deep-Dish and Jazz Nights
8.2
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.
Highlights:
  • ⛴️ Take an architecture boat tour on the river
  • 🚶‍♀️ Stroll along the scenic Chicago Riverwalk
  • 🏙️ Admire the skyline from the Willis Tower Skydeck
Mexico City
Vibrant Culture, History and Street Food
8.3
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.
Highlights:
  • 🎨 Visit Frida Kahlo’s Blue House in Coyoacán
  • 🏛️ Wander through the historic center and Zócalo Square
  • 🏯 Explore the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán’s pyramids
Montreal
A city of festivals, food and culture
8.6
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.
Highlights:
  • ⛪ Visit the breathtaking Notre-Dame Basilica and its illuminated interior
  • 🌄 Admire panoramic city views from Mount Royal Park
  • 🏙️ Wander the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal
Los Angeles
The city of stars, beaches and dreams
8.8
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.
Highlights:
  • 🎡 Spend a sunny afternoon at Santa Monica Pier and beach
  • 🥾 Hike to the Hollywood Sign for sweeping city views
  • 🎬 Walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and find your favorite stars
New Orleans
Jazz, Creole Flavors and Mardi Gras Vibes
7.9
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.
Highlights:
  • 🏘️ Explore historic French Quarter’s colorful streets
  • 🍩 Savor beignets at iconic Café du Monde
  • 🎷 Experience live jazz on vibrant Frenchmen Street
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.
Highlights:
  • 🖼️ Attend rotating exhibitions of innovative modern art
  • 📷 Explore contemporary photography at the Pritzker Center
  • 🎨 View iconic works by Warhol, Rothko, and Pollock
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.
Highlights:
  • 🚀 Walk through the Air and Space Museum’s legendary exhibits
  • 💎 Admire the Hope Diamond at the Museum of Natural History
  • 🏛️ Explore the vast museums of the Smithsonian complex on the Mall
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌿 Relax at the modern outdoor area near the museum entrance
  • 🖼️ Explore the vast collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art
  • 🎨 View iconic works like Grant Wood’s "American Gothic"
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.
Highlights:
  • 🏛️ Marvel at the stunning Art Nouveau and Art Deco architecture
  • 💃 Attend a vibrant Ballet Folklórico de México performance
  • 🖼️ Admire iconic murals by Diego Rivera and Siqueiros
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌌 Experience Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room installation
  • 🗿 Marvel at Henry Moore’s extensive sculpture collection
  • 🖼️ View contemporary and Indigenous Canadian artworks
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.
Highlights:
  • ⛪ Visit the Rideau Street Chapel recreated inside the museum
  • 🎨 Explore the Canadian and Indigenous art galleries
  • 🕷️ Admire the iconic spider sculpture, Maman, outside
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.
Highlights:
  • 🚲 Discover Duchamp’s provocative Bicycle Wheel sculpture
  • 🖼️ Explore Picasso’s revolutionary Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
  • 🌌 See Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece, The Starry Night
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌆 Attend a rooftop evening event overlooking Central Park
  • 🏺 Explore the Temple of Dendur inside its ancient Egyptian wing
  • 🖼️ Admire world-famous masterpieces by Van Gogh and Monet
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.
Highlights:
  • 🚋 Take the hilltop tram ride up to the museum
  • 🌿 Relax in the Central Garden surrounded by city views
  • 🖼️ Admire European masterpieces and stunning architecture at the Getty Center
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.
Highlights:
  • 🎨 Relax by the museum’s outdoor sculptures and fountains
  • 🖼️ Explore diverse art collections spanning ancient to contemporary works
  • 💡 Pose at the famous Urban Light installation at sunset
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.
Highlights:
  • 🌳 Stroll the Sculpture Garden’s serene paths and installations
  • 🎨 Explore modern art in the East Building’s galleries
  • 🖼️ Admire Leonardo da Vinci’s only American painting
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.
Highlights:
  • 🎨 Visit the Rodin Museum's impressive outdoor sculpture garden
  • 🖼️ Explore extensive collections of American and European art
  • 🏃‍♂️ Run up the famous "Rocky Steps" for iconic photo
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