Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL
Almost 2 million visitors a year enjoy collections from Impressionist and Post-Impressionist to modern and contemporary art housed in the second largest museum in the United States. More than 260,000 works of art fill the one-million-square-foot building on historic Michigan Avenue. Highlights include over 30 paintings by Claude Monet.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY
One of the ten largest art museums in the world (and the largest in the United States), MOMA contains over two million works divided into 17 departments. Not limiting itself to the traditional expectation of "art," MOMA features encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world.
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C.
One of the U.S.' finest free art museums, the NGA houses a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts tracing the development of Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in North America. It also features a 6-acre sculpture garden.
Guggenheim Museum
New York, NY
Perhaps known most widely for its a beautiful architectural design by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is one of the most important structure landmarks of the 20th century. With countless special exhibitions throughout the year, the Guggenheim collection is constantly growing.
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, MA
Ranked in the top 50 most visited art museums in the world, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is affiliated with an art academy, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and a sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in Japan. Highlights include works from Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, D.C.
Dedicated to education, the American Art Museum provides electronic resources to schools and the public through its national education program, including Artful Connections, real-time video conference tours. Artful Connections features seven online research databases with more than 500,000 art pieces documented. It contains the world's largest collection of New Deal artworks subsidized on relief with a group of projects called Federal One between the years 1933 and 1936.
