An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, usually from the museum's own
collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily concerned with
visual art, art museums are often used as a venue for other cultural exchanges and artistic activities, such as lectures,
performance arts, music concerts, or
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
readings. Art museums also frequently host themed temporary exhibitions, which often include items on loan from other collections.
Terminology
An institution dedicated to the display of art can be called an art museum or an art gallery, and the two terms may be used interchangeably.
This is reflected in the names of institutions around the world, some of which are called galleries (e.g. the
National Gallery and
Neue Nationalgalerie
The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. The museum building and its s ...
), and some of which are called museums (including the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, the
Museum of Modern Art, and Japan's
National Museum of Western Art
The is the premier public art gallery in Japan specializing in art from the Western tradition.
The museum is in the museum and zoo complex in Ueno Park in Taitō, central Tokyo. It received 1,162,345 visitors in 2016.
History
The NMWA was es ...
).
The phrase 'art gallery' can also be used for businesses which display art for sale, but these are not art museums.
History
Private collections
Throughout history, large and expensive works of art have generally been commissioned by
religious institutions or political leaders and been displayed in temples, churches, and
palaces. Although these collections of art were not open to the general public, they were often made available for viewing for a section of the public. In
classical times
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
, religious institutions began to function as an early form of art gallery. Wealthy Roman collectors of
engraved gem
An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major lux ...
s (including
Julius Caesar) and other precious objects often donated their collections to temples. It is unclear how easy it was in practice for the public to view these items.
In
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, from the
Late Medieval period onwards, areas in royal palaces,
castles, and large
country houses of the social elite were often made partially accessible to sections of the public, where art collections could be viewed. At the
Palace of Versailles, entrance was restricted to people of certain social classes, wearing the proper apparel – the appropriate accessories (silver
shoe buckle
Shoe buckles are fashion accessories worn by men and women from the mid-17th century through the 18th century to the 19th century. Shoe buckles were made of a variety of materials including brass, steel, silver or silver gilt, and buckles for f ...
s and a
sword) could be hired from shops outside. The treasuries of cathedrals and large churches, or parts of them, were often set out for public display and veneration. Many of the grander
English country houses could be toured by the respectable for a tip to the housekeeper, during the long periods when the family were not in residence.
Special arrangements were made to allow the public to see many royal or private collections placed in galleries, as with most of the paintings of the
Orleans Collection
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Euro ...
, which were housed in a wing of the
Palais-Royal in Paris and could be visited for most of the 18th century. In Italy, the art tourism of the
Grand Tour became a major industry from the 18th century onwards, and cities made efforts to make their key works accessible. The
Capitoline Museums
The Capitoline Museums ( Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pal ...
began in 1471 with a donation of classical sculpture to the city of
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
by the
Papacy, while the
Vatican Museums, whose collections are still owned by the Pope, trace their foundation to 1506, when the recently discovered ''
Laocoön and His Sons
The statue of ''Laocoön and His Sons'', also called the Laocoön Group ( it, Gruppo del Laocoonte), has been one of the most famous ancient sculptures ever since it was excavated in Rome in 1506 and placed on public display in the Vatican Museums ...
'' was put on public display. A series of museums on different subjects were opened over subsequent centuries, and many of the buildings of the Vatican were purpose-built as galleries. An early royal treasury opened to the public was the
Green Vault
The Green Vault (german: Grünes Gewölbe) is a museum located in Dresden, Germany, which contains the largest treasure collection in Europe. The museum was founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong of Poland and Saxony, and it features a variety of ...
of the
Kingdom of Saxony in the 1720s.
Privately funded museums open to the public began to be established from the 17th century onwards, often based around a collection of the
cabinet of curiosities type. The first such museum was the
Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford, opened in 1683 to house and display the artefacts of
Elias Ashmole
Elias Ashmole (; 23 May 1617 – 18 May 1692) was an English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he ...
that were given to
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
in a bequest.
Public museums
The
Kunstmuseum Basel, through its lineage which extends back to the
Amerbach Cabinet, which included a collection of works by
Hans Holbein the Younger and purchased by the city of
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
in 1661, is considered to be the first museum of art open to the public in the world.
In the second half of the 18th century, many private collections of art were opened to the public, and during and after the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
and
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, many royal collections were nationalized, even where the monarchy remained in place, as in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.
In 1753, the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
was established and the
Old Royal Library collection of
manuscripts was donated to it for public viewing. In 1777, a proposal to the British government was put forward by MP
John Wilkes to buy the art collection of the late Sir
Robert Walpole, who had amassed one of the greatest such collections in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
, and house it in a specially built wing of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
for public viewing. After much debate, the idea was eventually abandoned due to the great expense, and twenty years later, the collection was bought by Tsaritsa
Catherine the Great of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
and housed in the
State Hermitage Museum in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.
The
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
n royal collection (now in the
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...
, Munich) was opened to the public in 1779 and the
Medici collection in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
around 1789 (as the
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
Gallery). The opening of the
Musée du Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
in 1793 as a public museum for much of the former French royal collection marked an important stage in the development of public access to art by transferring the ownership to a republican state; but it was a continuation of trends already well established.
The building now occupied by the
Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
was built before the French Revolution for the public display of parts of the royal art collection, and similar royal galleries were opened to the public in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Munich and other capitals. In Great Britain, however, the corresponding
Royal Collection remained in the private hands of the monarch, and the first purpose-built national art galleries were the
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London, which opened to the public in 1817. It was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and influential method of illumination. Dulwich is the oldest pub ...
, founded in 1814 and the
National Gallery, London opened to the public a decade later in 1824. Similarly, the
National Gallery in Prague
The National Gallery Prague ( cz, Národní galerie Praha, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Cze ...
was not formed by opening an existing royal or princely art collection to the public, but was created from scratch as a joint project of some Czech aristocrats in 1796.
The
Corcoran Gallery of Art in
Washington, D.C. is generally considered to have been the first art museum in the United States. It was originally housed in the
Renwick Gallery, built in 1859. Now a part of the
Smithsonian Institution, the Renwick houses
William Wilson Corcoran's collection of
American and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an art. The building was designed by
James Renwick, Jr. and finally completed in 1874.
It is located at 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Renwick designed it after the Louvre's
Tuileries
The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...
addition.
At the time of its construction, it was known as "the American Louvre".
University museums and galleries
University art museums and galleries
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
constitute collections of art developed, owned, and maintained by all kinds of schools, community colleges, colleges, and universities. This phenomenon exists in the West and East, making it a global practice. Although easily overlooked, there are over 700 university art museums in the US alone. This number, compared to other kinds of art museums, makes university art museums perhaps the largest category of art museums in the country. While the first of these collections can be traced to learning collections developed in art academies in Western Europe, they are now associated with and housed in centers of higher education of all types.
Galleries as a specific section in museums
The word ''gallery'' being originally an
architectural term, the display rooms in museums are often called ''public galleries''. Also frequently, a series of rooms dedicated to specific historic periods (e.g.
Ancient Egypt) or other significant themed groupings of works (e.g. the collection of
plaster casts as in the
Ashmolean Museum) within a museum with a more varied collection are referred to as specific galleries, e.g. ''Egyptian Gallery'' or ''Cast Gallery''.
Visual art not shown in a gallery
Works on paper, such as
drawings,
pastels,
watercolors,
prints, and
photographs are typically not permanently displayed for reasons of
conservation. Instead, public access to these materials is provided by a dedicated
print room
A print room is a room in an art gallery or museum where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings, watercolours, and photographs, are held and viewed.
A further meaning is a room decorated by pasting prints ...
located within the museum.
Murals or
mosaics often remain where they have been created (
in situ
''In situ'' (; often not italicized in English) is a Latin phrase that translates literally to "on site" or "in position." It can mean "locally", "on site", "on the premises", or "in place" to describe where an event takes place and is used in ...
), although many have also been removed to galleries. Various forms of 20th-century art, such as
land art and
performance art, also usually exist outside a gallery.
Photographic records of these kinds of art are often shown in galleries, however. Most museums and large art galleries own more works than they have room to display. The rest are held in reserve collections, on or off-site.
Similar to an art gallery is the
sculpture garden (or "sculpture park"), which presents sculpture in an outdoor space. Sculpture installation has grown in popularity, whereby sculptures are installed in open spaces during temporary events like festivals.
Architecture
Most larger paintings from about 1530 onwards were designed to be seen either in churches or (increasingly) palaces, and many buildings built as palaces now function successfully as art museums. By the 18th century additions to palaces and country houses were sometimes intended specifically as galleries for viewing art, and designed with that in mind. The
architectural form of the entire building solely intended to be an art gallery was arguably established by Sir
John Soane
Sir John Soane (; né Soan; 10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the R ...
with his design for the
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London, which opened to the public in 1817. It was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane using an innovative and influential method of illumination. Dulwich is the oldest pub ...
in 1817. This established the gallery as a series of interconnected rooms with largely uninterrupted wall spaces for hanging pictures and indirect lighting from
skylights or
roof lanterns.
The late 19th century saw a boom in the building of public art galleries in Europe and America, becoming an essential cultural feature of larger cities. More art galleries rose up alongside museums and public libraries as part of the municipal drive for literacy and public education.
Over the middle and late twentieth century, earlier architectural styles employed for art museums (such as the
Beaux-Arts style of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
or the
Gothic and
Renaissance Revival architecture of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum) succumbed to
modern styles, such as
Deconstructivism. Examples of this trend include the
Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
in New York City by
Frank Lloyd Wright, the
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 by King Juan Carlos I of Sp ...
by
Frank Gehry,
Centre Pompidou-Metz by
Shigeru Ban
[Biography](_blank)
, The Hyatt Foundation, retrieved 26 March 2014 is a Japanese architect, known for his i ...
, and the redesign of the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by
Mario Botta. Some critics argue these galleries defeat their purposes because their dramatic interior spaces distract the eye from the paintings they are supposed to exhibit.
Cultural aspects
Museums are more than just mere 'fixed structures designed to house collections.' Their purpose is to shape identity and memory, cultural heritage, distilled narratives and treasured stories.
Many art museums throughout history have been designed with a cultural purpose or been subject to political intervention. In particular, national art galleries have been thought to incite feelings of
nationalism. This has occurred in both democratic and non-democratic countries, although
authoritarian regimes have historically exercised more control over administration of art museums.
Ludwig Justi was for example dismissed as director of the
Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
in 1933 by the new Nazi authorities for not being politically suitable.
The question of the place of the art museum in its community has long been under debate. Some see art museums as fundamentally elitist institutions, while others see them as institutions with the potential for societal education and uplift.
John Cotton Dana, an American librarian and museum director, as well as the founder of the
Newark Museum, saw the traditional art museum as a useless public institution, one that focused more on fashion and conformity rather than education and uplift. Indeed, Dana's ideal museum would be one best suited for active and vigorous use by the average citizen, located near the center of their daily movement. In addition, Dana's conception of the perfect museum included a wider variety of objects than the traditional art museum, including industrial tools and handicrafts that encourage imagination in areas traditionally considered mundane. This view of the art museum envisions it as one well-suited to an industrial world, indeed enhancing it. Dana viewed paintings and sculptures as much less useful than industrial products, comparing the museum to a department store. In addition, he encouraged the active lending-out of a museum's collected objects in order to enhance education at schools and to aid in the cultural development of individual members of the community. Finally, Dana saw branch museums throughout a city as a good method of making sure that every citizen has access to its benefits. Dana's view of the ideal museum sought to invest a wider variety of people in it, and was self-consciously not elitist.
Since the 1970s, a number of political theorists and social commentators have pointed to the political implications of art museums and social relations.
Pierre Bourdieu, for instance, argued that in spite the apparent freedom of choice in the arts, people's artistic preferences (such as classical music, rock, traditional music) strongly tie in with their social position. So called
cultural capital
In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society. Cultural capital functions as a social relatio ...
is a major factor in social mobility (for example, getting a higher-paid, higher-status job). The argument states that certain art museums are aimed at perpetuating aristocratic and upper class ideals of taste and excludes segments of society without the social opportunities to develop such interest. The fine arts thus perpetuate social inequality by creating divisions between different social groups. This argument also ties in with the Marxist theory of
mystification and
elite culture.
Furthermore, certain art galleries, such as the
National Gallery in London and the
Louvre in Paris are situated in buildings of considerable emotional impact. The
Louvre in Paris is for instance located in the former Royal Castle of the
ancient regime, and is thus clearly designed with a political agenda. It has been argued that such buildings create feelings of subjugation and adds to the
mystification of
fine arts. Research suggests that the context in which an artwork is being presented has significant influence on its reception by the audience, and viewers shown artworks in a museum rated them more highly than when displayed in a "laboratory" setting
Online museums
Museums with major web presences
Most art museums have only limited online collections, but a few museums, as well as some libraries and government agencies, have developed substantial online catalogues. Museums, libraries, and government agencies with substantial online collections include:
*The
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
has over 4,000,000 objects of all types available online, of which 1,018,471 have one or more images (as of June 2019).
*
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
, prints (C19 on) and photographs collection (several million entries).
*
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
has "406,000 hi-res images of public-domain works from the collection that can be downloaded, shared, and remixed without restriction".
*
Rijksmuseum has 399,189 objects available online, of which 153,309 have one or more images.
*
National Portrait Gallery, with over 215,000 works, 150,000 of which are illustrated, including paintings, prints and photographic portraits.
*
MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), with holdings that include more than 150,000 individual pieces in addition to approximately 22,000 films.
*
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
, with over 330,000 works, most with images. Good for prints.
*Fine Art Museums of
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, with over 85,000 works.
*
Harvard Art Museums, with over 233,000 works online.
*
Louvre, with over 80,000 works in various databases, with a large number of images, as well as another 140,000 drawings.
*
National Gallery of Art, with over 108,000 works catalogued, though with only 6,000 images.
* The Mona Lisa Database of French Museums – Joconde *(from the
French Ministry of Culture
The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visua ...
)
*Gallery Photoclass South Korea Art Gallery – since 2002
*
Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bengaluru, India, with over 18,000+ artefacts online, including paintings, photographs, textiles, sculptures and prints.
Online art collections
There are a number of online art catalogues and galleries that have been developed independently of the support of any individual museum. Many of these, like American Art Gallery, are attempts to develop galleries of artwork that are encyclopedic or historical in focus, while others are commercial efforts to sell the work of contemporary artists.
A limited number of such sites have independent importance in the art world. The large auction houses, such as
Sotheby's,
Bonhams
Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...
, and
Christie's, maintain large online databases of art which they have auctioned or are auctioning.
Bridgeman Art Library serves as a central source of reproductions of artwork, with access limited to museums,
art dealers, and other professionals or professional organizations.
Folksonomy
There are also online galleries that have been developed by a collaboration of museums and galleries that are more interested with the categorization of art. They are interested in the potential use of
folksonomy
Folksonomy is a classification system in which end users apply public tags to online items, typically to make those items easier for themselves or others to find later. Over time, this can give rise to a classification system based on those tags ...
within museums and the requirements for post-processing of terms that have been gathered, both to test their utility and to deploy them in useful ways.
The
steve.museum
The steve.museum project was a collaborative effort to improve public access to and engagement with US art museum collections. It explored the possibilities of user-generated descriptions of works of art, also known as folksonomy. Project staff ...
is one example of a site that is experimenting with this collaborative philosophy. The participating institutions include the
Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
, the
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, and the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Museum lists
*
List of museums (major Wikipedia page, listing links to articles on many specific museums, worldwide, sorted by country)
*
List of most visited museums
*
List of most visited art museums
This article lists the most-visited art museums in the world in 2021. The primary source is ''The Art Newspaper'' annual survey of the number of visitors to major art museums in 2021, published 28 March 2022.
Total attendance in the top one hun ...
*
List of most visited museums by region
*
List of largest art museums in the world
International and national lists
*World:
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
(s) (per
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
)
*World (modern art):
Museums of modern art
*Latin America: Museums in Latin America, on the website of the Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) of the
University of Texas at Austin
*United States:
:Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, alphabetical list with links.
*United States: ART MUSEUMS, ART CENTERS, and NON-PROFIT ART ORGANIZATIONS web page, sorted by state, on the website Art Collecting.com.
*United States: Museums page, listing (with links) the national museums of the United States, in the "History, Arts, and Culture" subsection of the "Citizens" section of the U.S. federal government's general information website USA.gov
Local area lists
Major European cities
*
List of museums in Berlin
*
List of museums in London
*
List of museums in Paris
There are around 130 museums in Paris, France, within city limits. This list also includes suburban museums within the "Grand Paris" area, such as the Air and Space Museum.
The sixteen museums of the City of Paris are annotated with "VP", as well ...
*
List of museums in Rome
North American local areas
*
List of museums in Washington, D.C., United States
*
List of museums in Chicago
The city of Chicago, Illinois, has many cultural institutions and museums, large and small. Major cultural institutions include:
*the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Lyric Opera of Chicago ...
, Illinois, United States
*
List of museums in San Francisco
This list of museums in the San Francisco Bay Area is a list of museums, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artis ...
, California, United States
*
List of museums in Los Angeles, California, United States
*
List of museums in Massachusetts
This list of museums in Massachusetts is a list of museums, defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scienti ...
, United States
*
List of museums in New York City
This is a list of museums in New York City, which is home to hundreds of cultural institutions and historic sites, many of which are internationally known. Also included are non-profit art galleries, arts centers, and cultural centers with galleri ...
, United States
*
List of museums in Toronto
There are a variety of different museums in Toronto. Types of museums located in Toronto include agricultural museums, art museums, fashion museums, food museums, history museums (including historic houses and living museums), military museum ...
, Canada
Organizations
There are relatively few local/regional/national organizations dedicated specifically to art museums. Most art museums are associated with local/regional/national organizations for
the arts
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
,
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
or museums in general. Many of these organizations are listed as follows:
International and topical organizations
*
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
– the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization—the leading global organization for the preservation and presentation of world cultures and arts.
*
International Council of Museums
The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to museums, maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Founded in 1946, I ...
*
Association of Art Historians
*
Association of Art Museum Curators
*
Association of Art Museum Directors The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) is an organization of art museum directors from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The AAMD was established in 1916 by the directors of twelve American museums and was formally incorporated in 1969 ...
*
Independent Curators International
Independent Curators International (ICI) is a non-profit headquartered in New York City that has produced exhibitions, events, publications, and training opportunities since 1975.
History
Independent Curators International (ICI) was founded in 197 ...
*International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT)
*
College Art Association (CAA)
*Small Museum Association, an all-volunteer organization serving small museums in the mid-Atlantic region and beyond.
*North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM)
*The Artists' Materials Center: An applied research organization at
Carnegie Mellon University dedicated to helping museums, libraries, and archives improve the ways of caring for their collections.
*International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM): an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the conservation of cultural heritage.
*International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC)
National organizations
*Australia:
Australian Museums and Galleries Association
The Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA), formerly Museums Galleries Australia and Museums Australia, is the national professional organisation and peak council for museums and public art galleries in Australia. It advocates for ...
*Canada: Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO)
*Canada: Canadian Museums Association
*Japan: Japan Association of Art Museums (English language page)
*Japan: Japanese Association of Museums (English language page)
*United States:
American Alliance of Museums
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
, formerly the
American Association of Museums
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
*United States:
American Federation of Arts
The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 w ...
*United States:
National Art Education Association
The National Art Education Association (NAEA) is a non-profit professional association founded in 1947 in the United States, headquartered in Alexandria, VA. It is the world's largest professional art education association.
The NAEA's annual conv ...
, and specifically their Museum Education Division
*United States:
American Institute for Conservation
The American Institute for Conservation (AIC) is a national membership organization of conservation professionals, headquartered in Washington D.C.
History
The AIC first launched in 1972 with only a handful of members. Now it is grown to over 3 ...
of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC)
*United Kingdom: The
Museums Association (MA) is a professional membership organisation based in London for museum, gallery, and heritage professionals, museums, galleries and heritage organisations, and companies that work in the museum, gallery, and heritage sector of the United Kingdom. It also offers international membership. Started in 1889, it is the oldest museum association in the world, and has over 5,000 individual members, 600 institutional members, and 250 corporate members.
Other organizations (for multiple museums)
Regional, provincial, and state museum organizations
*Canada, Ontario: Ontario Museum Association and
Ontario Association of Art Galleries The Galeries Ontario / Ontario Galleries (GOG), formerly Ontario Association of Art Galleries / Association Ontarienne des Galeries d’Art (OAAG/AOGA), was established in 1968 to encourage development of public art galleries, art museums, community ...
*United States, western states: Western Museums Association
*United States, western states: Museums West Consortium, an association of 13 museums of the American West.
*United States, western states:
Western Association for Art Conservation (WAAC)
*United States, California: California Association of Museums
*United States, Florida: Florida Art Museum Directors Association—an affiliate of the Florida Association of Museums
District, local and community museum organizations
*United States, Washington DC:
Smithsonian Institution, the official national museum, and controlling organization for most major art and cultural museums in Washington, D.C., national museums with major art collections, as well as other national historic and cultural facilities nationwide. The Smithsonian also—directly or indirectly, and through traveling exhibits—coordinates some federal government support of museums (art and other), nationally. Also partners with many museums throughout the United States, each designated as a "Smithsonian Affiliate" institution.
*United States, Florida, Miami Miami Art Museums Alliance
*United States, New Mexico, Taos:
Taos art colony
*United States, New York, New York City:
Art Museum Partnership
*United States, New York, New York City: Museums Council of New York City
*United States, Texas, Houston: Houston Museum District Association
See also
*
Art exhibition
An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhi ...
*
Artist cooperative
An artist cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is an autonomous visual arts organization, enterprise, or association jointly owned and democratically controlled by its members. Artist cooperatives are legal entities organized as non-capital sto ...
*
Artist-run initiative
An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...
*
Artist-run space
*
Arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...
*
Contemporary art gallery
A contemporary art gallery is normally a commercial art gallery operated by an art dealer which specializes in displaying for sale contemporary art, usually new works of art by living artists. This approach has been called the "Castelli Method" ...
*
List of largest art museums
Art museums are some of the largest buildings in the world. The world's most pre-eminent museums have also engaged in various expansion projects through the years, expanding their total exhibition space.
List
The following is a list of art mus ...
*
List of most visited art museums
This article lists the most-visited art museums in the world in 2021. The primary source is ''The Art Newspaper'' annual survey of the number of visitors to major art museums in 2021, published 28 March 2022.
Total attendance in the top one hun ...
*
List of national galleries
*
Pop-up exhibition
A pop-up exhibition is a temporary art event, less formal than a gallery or museum but more formal than private artistic showing of work. Pop-up exhibits are erroneously called pop-up museums, such as the Museum of Ice Cream but do not fit the Int ...
*
Vanity gallery
*
Virtual museum
References
Further reading
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{{Authority control
Types of museums
Articles containing video clips