A good museum opens your mind, unlocks the door to other cultures and expands your world by offering insights into a style of art or ancient history. And in the United States, you will find plenty of museums that document important events from the country’s history to those around the world.
With over 35,000 museums to see, it is impossible to see them all, but there are ones that must be visited at least once in your lifetime. And although everyone has the type of museum they like, as some love art, while others prefer to immerse themselves in history, some museums will surely succeed in being appreciated by all, as they offer essential information everyone should know.
Here are the best museums you need to see in the United States.
The Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute in Chicago is a museum you must visit as it is one of the oldest in the world, and its collection places it among the best ones in the world. It is located in Grant Park, and it surely is the best activity you can attend in Chicago. It was founded in 1879 as a museum but also a school for fine arts, and while it started as a modest gallery, now it is a world-class art institution, visited by 1.5 million annual visitors. It has a permanent collection with almost 300,000 works of art and many more that are part of the temporary collections. Art is of great variety in this museum, ranging from Renaissance to Impressionism, but it also has contemporary works. The most famous paintings from this museum include American Gothic by Grant Wood, The Bedroom by Vincent van Gogh, The Old Guitarist by Pablo Picasso, or Water Lilies by Claude Monet.
The fee to enter is $25 for adults, $19 for students, seniors and teens, or free for kids under 13. The museum is open from 11 am to 5 pm daily, but keep in mind that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it is closed.
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art, also known as MoMa, is one of the most important museums of modern art worldwide. It is located in New York and offers an art collection of more than 150,000 pieces from many artistic movements, including Cubism, Post-Impressionism, Surrealism, and Italian Futurism. It has six floors of galleries, so make sure you have a lot of time when you come here to see the impressive art from this place. Also, as you will surely spend a few hours here, it would be good to book a spot at the JFK parking lot to ensure your car will stay safe while you explore some of the most famous pieces of art from around the globe. One of these includes The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, or The Seed of the Areoi by Paul Gauguin.
The museum can be visited from Sunday to Friday from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm and Saturday from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm. The fee is $25 for adults, $18 for seniors, $14 for students and free for kids.
Getty Center
The Getty is a museum in Los Angeles known for its architecture and art, but what really attracts visitors is the impressive building in which the museum is located. The place is a coastal mansion full of antiquities that are always worth seeing. It initially served as the home of J. Paul Getty Trust, where he placed his extensive art collection, but in 1997, the Getty Center was opened to the public, and now it contains Impressionist pieces, French furniture and exhibitions that are rotating frequently. It has free admission, and you will have the best view from this mansion, so make sure you visit it the next time you are in LA. Just ensure you book a spot in the LAX parking lot beforehand so you will not worry about your car’s safety while exploring the art pieces.
The Museum of Fine Arts Boston
The best one from this area, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, is always a great option to visit as it is home to one of the best collections worldwide. MFA has more than 500,000 amazing art pieces, and you will be amazed both by the collections, but also by the details of the building. You need to see Postman Joseph Roulin by Vincent van Gogh, the Goddess Taweret, which is an Egyptian artifact discovered in Nubia and dating somewhere between 623-595 BCE, Seated Giant by Francisco Goya, or Portrait of a 62-year-old Woman, which is an art from 1632 made by Rembrandt.
The museum is closed on Tuesday, so plan your visit for another day, from 10 am to 5 pm. To enter, adults have to pay $27, while the youths from 7-17 pay $10.
The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum
The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum was created to pay tribute to the almost 3,000 people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, due to a terrorist attack and those who were killed on February 26, 1993, in the World Trade Center bombing. In 2001, several people died when one of the twin towers of New York crumbled to the ground, so now, instead of two towers, the city has just one and a memorial as a symbol of what happened. There you will find a history project where each victim’s name is inscribed on a statue, and because of the audio technology, you will also be able to hear some of the stories behind those names. You can visit the museum from 9 am to 7 pm on Wednesday to Monday, so make sure you come here to become more familiar with the tragic event that occurred.
Which one of these museums will you visit the next time you are in the United States?