Few things are enjoyed more by art lovers than visiting galleries and looking at original art.
The vivid colors and the sharpness of the detail that can be observed live have nothing to do with the small pictures we see on the internet or in albums.
If you truly appreciate art, then this article will tell you which are the most important art museums in the world that you should put on your bucket list.
What are the Top Art Museums You Should Visit in your Lifetime
The museums we will be reviewing below hold key artworks from different periods of Art History that have influenced the movements and styles, leading to today’s world.
Some of these museums are so vast, that you can easily get lost in them for the whole day, forgetting that time exists. If you manage to visit even just one of them, you will already have seen a large portion of the most important artworks in the world by many recognized artists.
Now, let’s begin our journey.
Uffizi Gallery
The Uffizi Gallery is located in Florence, Italy, which is the place where the Italian Renaissance first bloomed.
It houses artworks from Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Giotto, Raphael, and numerous other notorious artists that had a massive influence on world art history.
The gallery is one of the most famous art museums in the world and it preserves notorious masterpieces from the collections of the Medici family.
The mecenate family donated their collections to the gallery to “adorn the State, be of utility to the public, and attract the curiosity of foreigners.”
Louvre Museum
If you want to see the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci in its original and full glory, then you need to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris, where you can also see various other notorious artworks.
The museum is said to be the largest museum of art in the world and it houses numerous collections from different periods in art history with different artistic movements and styles.
You haven’t really been to Paris if you go there, but miss visiting the Louvre.
The Hermitage
The State Hermitage is located in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is stunningly enormous.
The museum expands over 6 buildings, one of which is the Winter Palace which used to be the home of Russian monarchs in the past.
It would take you 11 years to see every object exhibited in the Hermitage if you took one minute to look at each item.
Still, you should try and dedicate at least some time to the museum if you are a true art aficionado.
Museo del Prado
In the Prado Museum in Madrid, you can have a look at one of the largest and most remarkable art collections in the world.
There you can explore the works of notorious Spanish artists that have shaped art history, such as Velasquez, Goya, El Greco, and Murillo.
It was supposed to be a house of science, but queen Maria Isabel of Braganza persuaded her husband, king Ferdinand VII to use it as a museum to hold the royal artworks when it was opened in 1819.
There are certain hours of the day in which you can even visit the museum for free.
The Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is located in the Hague, Netherlands, where Van Gogh spent a portion of his life.
The museum holds an enormous collection of his works and you can observe his different artistic periods and get to know him better as an artist.
There are also artworks of other notorious artists from the Impressionist and the Post-Impressionist movement such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and many others.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, also known as The Met Museum, is one of the largest and most famous art museums in the world, and it offers such a vast variety of art, that any type of art lover can have an unforgettable experience there.
The museum houses over 2 000 000 pieces of art from various styles and movements from ancient history to contemporary art.
You can take days if you want to explore everything in the museum, so its better to make a plan in advance and go to those types of artworks that most interest you for the time you have available.
Museo Reina Sofia
In the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, Spain, you can see Picasso’s notorious oil painting Guernica, which is over 3 meters high and over 7 meters long.
Its focus is mainly on the work of Spanish artists, like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, and Juan Mirò. The gallery holds more than 2500 masterpieces of Spanish art, and the architecture of the museum is a work of art itself.