Art Museums

Art & Design

Browse art museums recommendations from people with great taste on Rec League — the whisper network for great recs.

Grier

Isabella Stewart Gardener

Or as I like to call it, the Isabeller Stewut Gahdnah

even*cleveland

The Morgan Library: New York City

One of my favorite NYC places: the one-time private library of J.P. Morgan, tycoon + obsessive collector (I think of him every time I read Edith Wharton's THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY; you can have a pretty mind-blowing time wandering through the cultural treasures in various NYC museums and noting just how many he donated). It reflects the work and vision of Belle da Costa Greene, librarian extraordinaire, who was the director for decades. Usually has fascinating exhibits, Constable clouds, rare manuscripts, and the interior is a book-lover's dream.

cole

Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts

there is not nearly enough chatter about the beatrice wood center for the arts on the outskirts of ojai, formerly home to beatrice wood, the last living member of the dada movement who lived there until her death at 105. close friend and contemporary of marcel duchamp and anaïs nin, later became known for these wildly iridescent ceramic pieces she was still making deep into her 100s (!!). the original bohemian baddie. only open on saturdays.

Lily

Maison d’Art

Maison d’Art has been quietly running the most extraordinary museum-level programming in Los Angeles for nearly a decade. Although you will never encounter a person in-person when you arrive for your appointment, the private gallery space on Melrose is run and funded by Theo Niarchos, lending to a thrilling private encounter with historical and contemporary works like Cy Twombly, Cady Noland, and (new to me, b. 1895) William L. Hawkins, which is up through May 30.

Mia

Louisiana Museum

Louisiana museum of course, takes about an hour (a little less) via train + a 10 minute walk to get there from the city. Beautiful, beautiful museum, just what you’d expect of Denmark. Very MCM, on a cliff overlooking the water, lots of grass to have a picnic on if you have the right weather— Carol also said people swim in the spring and summer. If you’re there in the fall/winter, you may get lucky and have a rainy day, in which case you’ll feel like you’re in Forks, Washington at the Cullen’s home. Really great permanent collection here, & the temporary exhibits, i’m told, are generally really well curated. We got to see Basquiat Drawings, in my opinion just okay compared to the rest of the museum. Sophie Calle & Lucien Freud coming soon. The entire thing will take you about 3 hours. Also! when you get off the train there is a café, and while you are there you should stop in and get a Flødeboller (many flavors to choose from, I had Yuzu), Licorice (if you’re not going to make it to one of the stores I mentioned in this list), and some tinned fish to take home. Flødeboller One of the museum hallways The walk on the way to the museum

even*cleveland

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection: Venice

Went to the Peggy Guggenheim palazzo when we were in Venice mostly because I wanted to visit her grave and the sweet memorial to her beloved Lhasa Apsos, but also enjoyed seeing the Jenny Holzer benches, the shimmering headboard and earrings Calder made for her, the two Joseph Cornell boxes, the spare and angular chairs tucked in the room corners that no one can sit on any more, and the radiant pigments chromatically arranged in the conservation studio. It was also lovely to observe the big tree in her courtyard garden, maybe the biggest one we saw the whole time we were in Venice.

cole

The Museum of Stones

need to go. @even*cleveland for your collection.

Lily

Rothko in Florence

One of the most important shows of Rothko in recent memory is taking place as we sit here on our phones at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, the city that inspired him throughout his career. Up through August 23. I need to see these big boys next to the Fra Angelico frescoes which were his deepest wellspring of reverie and admiration. Insanity!

Grier

The Norton Simon Museum

Favorite museum in LA

Coco Quizon

Mona – Museum of Old and New Art | Hobart, Tasmania

I used to be a broke college student in Melbourne and going to Tasmania to see the MONA was lower on the list of priorities. Now that I’m older and not broke, another problem has reared its ugly head, an Australian tourist visa is incredibly hard to get for my passport classification. Incredible acquisitions, really nice design hotel, and all of it by the water.

cole

Helene Schjerfbeck at The Met

the best exhibit i've seen in a very long time.

even*cleveland

Museo Fortuny: Venice

We wandered in here on a whim while roaming the narrow streets of Venice and were beguiled. It is the one-time live-work space of Mariano Fortuny and his creative partner and wife, Henriette Nigrin, and just his library/wunderkammer alone is worth the price of admission--tables strewn with cyanotypes, inspirational clippings bound by theme in great big scrapbooks covered with Fortuny fabrics. Besides the fabrics, he designed theatrical sets and innovative lighting tools to cast cloud patterns and shimmering moons on stage, and with Henriette, he created the fabulous pleated column dresses still associated with the Fortuny name (they have several on display + this is a picture of Henriette in one of the gowns). Worth visiting if you like artfully decayed palazzos, richly patterned hanging lanterns, silk tassels, ephemera, theatrical models, old photographs, fabulous sofas strewn with cushions, and artist studios.

Londyn Harris

American Folk Art Museum

Safe to say I am obsessed with all sorts of folk art from all over the world. I find it to be more evocative than other forms of art, speaking directly heart to heart and soul to soul. Still need to visit the folk art museum in Santa Fe!

Lindsay Arakawa

The National Art Center, Tokyo 国立新美術館

If I were to recommend one art museum to someone visiting Tokyo, I'd immediately recommend The National Art Center, Tokyo in Roppongi. Opened in 2007 and designed by Kisho Kurokawa, the building features a striking wavelike glass facade and one of the most beautiful cafes in the neighborhood.

cole

Finnish Folk Art Museum

this might be the most under-the-radar spot on the list, but the la finlandia foundation has a really charming little collection of finnish artifacts, mostly from the mid-1800s and from western finland’s pohjanmaa region. it’s only open on the second saturday of each month, so it’s kind of a fun timing-based visit, and it pairs perfectly with a stop at the gamble house across the street.

Dolly Meckler

Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art

“I had a lot of favs but I landed on this luminous light blue iridescent glass plate. I learned nothing of its history bc I was too busy admiring its beauty! Reminds me of the kind of dishware they serve in a retro Japanese kissaten. I want 10 of them for my own!" - @SASHA FIERCE

even*cleveland

Kettles Yard: Cambridge, England

Possibly the most perfect house; I visited in 2018 and think about it at least once a week. It was the creation of Jim and Helen Ede (Jim was the first curator of modern art at the Tate, if I remember correctly), and the house holds a very personal, obviously beloved collection of work, including many gifts from friends. The paintings are hung wherever they might catch the eye--under windowsills, to align with low-slumg armchairs, or just perfectly placed on a wall as you turn the corner, and the house itself feels easy and lived-in; quietly radical, maybe, in its assertion that art is actually meant to be lived with and enjoyed. They held open houses regularly, inviting in students and neighbors to enjoy the art. And now the house is kept as it was when the Edes lived there, and you can visit. I was particularly charmed by the collections of pebbles everywhere on display--organized by color in shallow baskets, coiled in spirals, lined up on sills. The "Louvre of the Pebble" indeed.

"FOR SCALE"

CASA MUSEO BOSCHI DI STEFANO

the absolute CLUTTER of paintings in this place !!! f*ck the 'minimalist' gallery !!! u got Chirico, u got Fontana, u got Sironi, and u and the friezes of the architect Portaluppi (who also designed the building)

Londyn Harris

Musée de Cluny

For all my real medieval lovers out there. Paris’s national medieval museum is totally worth a visit

Louise Buckley

Musée national Picasso

I'm no die hard Picasso fan but recommend going here if you are remotely interested in painting. They have rotating exhibitions (currently Raymond Pettibon) in addition to a (kind of slightly underwhelming imo) Picasso collection. I just think it's great to see a lot of one artist's work concentrated in one place like this and really enjoyed seeing his sketches and drawings of horses.

Lindsay Arakawa

🖼️ Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery 東京オペラシティアートギャラリー

I'm always talking about how much I love this art gallery. It's one you don't hear about online too often, but the curation is always so strong and it doesn't ever get too crowded. ✨ Originally featured in my Hatsudai Mini Vlog

Pangée

See some art at Pangée! Its a gorgeous space and the programming is reliably good. And more spaces: MAI La Guilde Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Pangée Bradley Ertaskiran Articule McCord Stewart Museum Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery McBride Contemporain

Londyn Harris