Best Cities for Art Lovers

Paris

Home to the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris basically invented the modern idea of the art pilgrimage, from Impressionism's birth to today's Paris+ fair inside the Grand Palais. Every arrondissement seems to hide another atelier-turned-museum, making it the default answer to t

World-Class Museums (approx.): 15Signature Institution: Louvre & Musée d'OrsayFlagship Art Fair / Event: Paris+ par Art BaselOverall Art Scene: 10/10

added by IJRin 8 rankings

New York City

MoMA, the Met, the Guggenheim, and Chelsea's gallery district give NYC a density of art unmatched outside Europe, and the Armory Show each spring turns the whole city into a fair. It's the place where art history and the art market collide in real time.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 20Signature Institution: MoMA & The Metropolitan Museum of ArtFlagship Art Fair / Event: The Armory ShowOverall Art Scene: 9.8/10

added by IJRin 13 rankings

London

Tate Modern's turbine hall installations and the free-entry National Gallery make London's art scene both monumental and accessible, while Frieze London each October cements its market power. The city's genius is mixing 500-year-old masters with the most talked-about living artis

World-Class Museums (approx.): 18Signature Institution: Tate Modern & National GalleryFlagship Art Fair / Event: Frieze LondonOverall Art Scene: 9.5/10

added by IJRin 10 rankings

Florence

The Uffizi's corridors of Botticelli and da Vinci make Florence the spiritual capital of the Renaissance, a city where the art isn't just displayed but built into every church and piazza. Michelangelo's David alone justifies the trip.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 8Signature Institution: Uffizi GalleryFlagship Art Fair / Event: Biennale Internazionale dell'AntiquariatoOverall Art Scene: 9.3/10

added by IJRin 8 rankings

Rome

Between the Vatican Museums' Sistine Chapel and the Baroque explosions of Bernini and Caravaggio scattered through its churches, Rome offers art you stumble into rather than seek out. Few cities let masterpieces double as street furniture.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 12Signature Institution: Vatican MuseumsFlagship Art Fair / Event: Rome Art WeekOverall Art Scene: 9.2/10

added by IJRin 9 rankings

Madrid

The Prado, Reina Sofía, and Thyssen-Bornemisza form the 'Golden Triangle of Art,' walkable in a single afternoon and covering everything from Velázquez to Guernica. ARCOmadrid keeps the contemporary scene lively year-round.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 10Signature Institution: Museo del PradoFlagship Art Fair / Event: ARCOmadridOverall Art Scene: 9/10

added by IJRin 3 rankings

Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum sit blocks apart, letting visitors go from Rembrandt's Night Watch to Van Gogh's sunflowers in one canal-side stroll. Its compact museum quarter is one of the most walkable art districts anywhere.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 9Signature Institution: Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh MuseumFlagship Art Fair / Event: Amsterdam Art WeekendOverall Art Scene: 8.9/10

added by IJRin 8 rankings

Berlin

Museum Island's five institutions form a UNESCO-listed cluster of ancient and classical art, while the city's reunification-era energy still fuels one of Europe's edgiest contemporary scenes. Gallery Weekend Berlin proves the city's art world never really stopped being undergroun

World-Class Museums (approx.): 14Signature Institution: Museum IslandFlagship Art Fair / Event: Gallery Weekend BerlinOverall Art Scene: 8.8/10

added by IJRin 5 rankings

Vienna

Klimt's 'The Kiss' hangs in the Belvedere while the Kunsthistorisches Museum houses one of the world's great Habsburg-built collections, giving Vienna an imperial grandeur few cities can match. Vienna Contemporary adds a modern counterpoint to all that gilded history.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 10Signature Institution: Kunsthistorisches MuseumFlagship Art Fair / Event: Vienna ContemporaryOverall Art Scene: 8.7/10

added by IJRin 8 rankings

Venice

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection anchors a city whose art identity is inseparable from the Venice Biennale, the world's oldest and most prestigious contemporary art exhibition. Every other June and odd year, national pavilions turn the entire city into a global art stage.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 6Signature Institution: Peggy Guggenheim CollectionFlagship Art Fair / Event: Venice BiennaleOverall Art Scene: 8.9/10

added by IJRin 7 rankings

Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago's Impressionist holdings and Seurat's 'A Sunday on La Grande Jatte' put it in the top tier of American museums, and EXPO Chicago has revived the city's fair scene. It's the Midwest's answer to the coastal art capitals.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 8Signature Institution: Art Institute of ChicagoFlagship Art Fair / Event: EXPO ChicagoOverall Art Scene: 8.5/10

added by IJRin 15 rankings

Los Angeles

LACMA's sprawling campus and the hilltop Getty Center reflect LA's rise from Hollywood backdrop to genuine art-world heavyweight, accelerated by Frieze Los Angeles landing on the calendar. The city's murals and street art add a distinctly West Coast layer on top.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 12Signature Institution: LACMA & The Getty CenterFlagship Art Fair / Event: Frieze Los AngelesOverall Art Scene: 8.4/10

added by IJRin 12 rankings

St. Petersburg

The Hermitage, occupying the former Winter Palace, holds one of the largest art collections on Earth, with over three million items spanning ancient Egypt to Picasso. Walking its rooms is as much a tour of Romanov excess as of art history itself.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 7Signature Institution: The State Hermitage MuseumFlagship Art Fair / Event: —Overall Art Scene: 8.8/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Barcelona

The Picasso Museum traces the artist's formative years in the city he called home, while Gaudí's architecture blurs the line between art and building at every turn. Barcelona Gallery Weekend keeps the contemporary scene humming alongside all that modernist history.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 9Signature Institution: Museu Picasso & MNACFlagship Art Fair / Event: Barcelona Gallery WeekendOverall Art Scene: 8.3/10

added by IJRin 10 rankings

Mexico City

Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul and the murals of Diego Rivera at the Palacio de Bellas Artes make Mexico City the epicenter of Latin American art, a status reinforced by Zona Maco, the region's biggest art fair. Its gallery scene has exploded over the past decade.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 10Signature Institution: Museo Frida Kahlo & Palacio de Bellas ArtesFlagship Art Fair / Event: Zona MacoOverall Art Scene: 8.2/10

added by IJRin 5 rankings

Basel

This small Swiss city punches astronomically above its weight thanks to Art Basel, the fair that essentially sets the global contemporary art market's calendar and prices every June. The Kunstmuseum Basel's permanent collection is world-class in its own right, fair or no fair.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 5Signature Institution: Kunstmuseum BaselFlagship Art Fair / Event: Art BaselOverall Art Scene: 8.6/10

added by IJRBasel

Washington, D.C.

The National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian's museum cluster offer world-class collections entirely free of charge, an anomaly among global art capitals. It's a city where you could see Vermeer, Rothko, and the Hirshhorn's sculpture garden all in one free day.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 10Signature Institution: National Gallery of ArtFlagship Art Fair / Event: —Overall Art Scene: 8.1/10

added by IJR

Bilbao

Frank Gehry's titanium-clad Guggenheim Bilbao single-handedly transformed a declining industrial port into a global art destination, a phenomenon now known as 'the Bilbao Effect.' It proves one building can rewrite a city's entire identity.

World-Class Museums (approx.): 3Signature Institution: Guggenheim Museum BilbaoFlagship Art Fair / Event: —Overall Art Scene: 7.8/10

added by IJR