My Top Museum Picks: Museums That Do It Right
Great art and excellent visitor experience
Why visit museums? Because places like this exist!
For anyone who visits museums regularly, they have their favorites. Some people's lists might be museums in their town. For others the list might be museums around the world. For others, their favorite museums might be all natural history museums, or all historic house museums. This is my list of favorite museums as of now. As I visit new museums, I may need to update the list.
1. National Museum of Korea (Seoul, South Korea)
Big, beautiful, professional, and excellent seating! I would go back to Korea just to see this museum!
A grand museum in size and scope! The National Museum of Korea is so big you can't easily get the whole front facade in your photo! It's the size of 56 football fields, spread over three levels. Object labels are written in Korean, English, and Japanese. The museum's collection numbers over 300,00 objects. The outdoor area has ponds, waterfalls, pagodas, and more. And, one of my favorite part of the museum is the seating! Not only does the museum have benches in the galleries, but tucked away in sunlit corners are small seating groups, just right for taking a break or sitting and chatting with your companions about the museum or your favorite piece of art. A museum that will spark curiosity and improve wellness! (National Museum of Korea)
2. Victoria and Albert Museum (London, England)
Filled with decorative arts (silver, glass, furniture, textiles, etc.), my favorite type of art, and housed in historically varied architecture!
I love London and I love the V&A! Not only am I a lover of decorative arts but I delight in eclectic spaces. And the V&A is a conglomeration of buildings and additions and stairways and hallways from a multitude of time periods. A delight to wander within! The V&A is described as "the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design" and has a collection of over two million objects. (Victoria and Albert Museum)
3. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY, USA)
My "second home" while I was in grad school and the museum where I did my internship.
When you spend a lot of time in a museum, you develop a love and fascination! I did my studies for my MA (museum Studies and European decorative arts) in New York. The Met was just down the street and I wandered through the galleries and spent hours in the Watson Research Library. I was also an intern here cataloguing Anni Albers workbooks and weaving samples. No matter what you're interested in or intrigued to learn more about, you'll find it at the Met. (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
4. Biltmore Estate (Asheville, North Carolina, USA)
I was curator here and continue to feel connected to the House, the collection, and the historic stories about the property.
Being curator of the largest historic house in America, even if it was years ago, means you love the place! And, Biltmore House provides excellent hospitality! Biltmore is the 19th century home of George Vanderbilt. This 250-room home is filled with the original furnishings and art and is spectacular! In annual planning meetings we use to jokingly debate if the marketing tag line should be, "A big damn house!" Unlike nearly all other museums, it's a for-profit organization. Its mission is, “The preservation of Biltmore as a privately-owned, profitable, working estate.” I have an annual pass and while my favorite visit it to the house, sometimes I just stop in to wander in the gardens or the grounds. (Biltmore Estate)
5. Musée d'Orsay (Paris, France)
My favorite time period is late 19th and early 20th century and that's what the Musée d'Orsay is filled with! And I do love that it's in a magnificent old train station!
If you love Impressionists artists, this museum is for you! The museum, on the banks of the River Seine, is filled with art by Monet, Renoir, Manet, Degas, van Gogh, and more. The exhibit spaces range from dramatic open areas, to large rooms, to steel walkways. The architecture is as worthy of contemplation as the art. (Musée d'Orsay)
6. Taubman Museum (Roanoke, Virginia, USA)
I loved happening upon this friendly, creative, intriguing museum in the rather small town of Roanoke, Virginia. The Taubman Museum is art museum with beauty and fun blended together!
The dramatic, award-winning architecture houses art, a cafe with an outdoor patio, a hands-on learning gallery called Art Venture, a spectacular entrance space, and it's FREE! The hospitality was both overt--friendly, helpful, smiling staff, along with lots of seating, and subtle--tables in the entrance space where people sat and chatted and a grandfather and grandson played checkers. Loved it! (Taubman Museum of Art)
7. Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
The first museum I ever visited, being that I grew up in Detroit, means of course that I love the Detroit Institute of Arts!
The DIA has one of the largest and most diverse collections of any museum in the country. Highlights of the DIA include Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry fresco series that dramatically fills a whole room, as well as one of my favorites as a child--Kresge Court, a replica of a medieval Italian courtyard! The collection ranges from art that connects to Detroit like Pewabic pottery to ancient Islamic art. This museum is worth visiting for its art, its hospitality, and the way it will spark curiosity in you! (Detroit Institute of Arts)
8. The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (Little Rock, Arkansas)
A well-done museum package with all you could want from art, architecture, hospitality, and more.
In 2023 kept reading articles in national publications about the newly-renovated Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. It sounded incredible and the photos looked amazing. I added it to one of my museum road trips and was not disappointed. Their collection of 14,000 works focuses on drawings, contemporary crafts, and art from the American South. Everything was a delight! The staff. The architecture. The cafe. The grounds. I spent nearly a whole day then went back in the evening for Bright Nights, jazz, wine, and snacks in their amazing Cultural Living Room. And the museum is free! (Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts)
Everyone has different favorite museums based on different interests. What's your favorite museum and why?
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Love that you tell us about museums around the world! Your info is priceless as they say!
Thanks for reading and commenting! Yep, had to have Biltmore high on the list! :)