Museums & Collections
Key museums with notable strengths. Use this as a travel/study guide and pair with chapters for period focus.
Europe
- Louvre (Paris): Antiquity to 19th c.; highlights include Greek sculpture, Renaissance masters.
- Musée d’Orsay (Paris): 19th c. French art—Realism to Post-Impressionism.
- Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam): Dutch Golden Age; Rembrandt, Vermeer. Open-access images.
- Uffizi (Florence): Italian Renaissance painting; Botticelli, Leonardo.
- Prado (Madrid): Spanish masters—Velázquez, Goya; Bosch.
- Tate (London): British art and international modern; Tate Modern for 20th–21st c.
- V&A (London): Decorative arts and design; breadth of materials and periods.
- Pompidou (Paris): Modern and contemporary collections; major avant-garde holdings.
North America
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC): Global survey; the Met Breuer/Modern holdings.
- Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, NYC): Foundational modern/contemporary works.
- Guggenheim (NYC): Modern collection; iconic Frank Lloyd Wright spiral.
- Art Institute of Chicago: Impressionism/Post-Impressionism; American art.
- Getty (Los Angeles): European painting, photography; research library.
- SFMOMA: Modern and contemporary, strong photography.
Asia
- National Palace Museum (Taipei): Chinese imperial collections—painting, calligraphy, jade.
- Tokyo National Museum: Japanese and Asian art; archaeology to modern.
- Mori Art Museum (Tokyo): Contemporary exhibitions.
- M+ (Hong Kong): Visual culture, design, and contemporary art.
Latin America
- Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico City): Pre-Columbian artifacts; Aztec Sun Stone.
- MASP (São Paulo): European and Brazilian art; iconic glass easels display.
- MALBA (Buenos Aires): Latin American modern and contemporary art.
Middle East & Africa
- The British Museum (London): Major Near Eastern, Egyptian, and African collections (by location, not origin).
- Egyptian Museum (Cairo): Pharaonic art and artifacts.
- Zeitz MOCAA (Cape Town): Contemporary African art.
Online / Open Access
- Google Arts & Culture: Aggregated high-res images and virtual tours.
- Rijksmuseum Open Access: Free downloads of collection images.
- Smithsonian Open Access: Millions of items with open licenses.
- Europeana: European cultural heritage portal.
- Library of Congress Digital: Prints, photographs, maps; public domain.
Tip
Check each museum’s digital collection for high-resolution images you can zoom to see brushwork and materials—ideal for study alongside the chapters.