Largest Art Museums in US?

[TheseGoTo11]

Originally Posted by steeps

Old Thread reopened.... 2009 numbers are no doubt Bigger today.
Chicago's Art Institute opened its Modern Wing Addition that year. Last tear "TripAdvisor" named the Art Institute.... BEST MUSEUM IN THE WORLD. By REVIEWS. This sight also puts its ARTWORK NUMBER At over 300,000.

Art Institute of Chicago Named Best Museum in the World | NBC Chicago

In terms of large U.S. art museums, absolutely agree. Can't beat it.

[ThreeSides]

I'm not a big fan of art museums, I do like them. However, my favorite cities have this in common: lots of public art. I love public art! Three dimensional pieces, in particular.

[theurbanfiles]

I haven't seen too many mentions, but if I were to make the case for Cleveland

I believe total gallery space is at about 600,000 ft. That isn't as much as AIC at 1 Million or the Met at 2 Million, but I wouldn't be surprised that ranks in the Top 10.

Also, Cleveland's offers free admission, one of the last if not the last of the great art museums to do so. It's motto upon establishment was "For the benefit of all people, forever." and it has taken that to heart in the degree of community programming it puts on.

I think the endowment is approaching $800 Million, which puts it 3rd (?) among art museums in the world.

With the setting on Wade Park (outside), and the striking new indoor atrium which was recently used as the headquarters for SHIELD, plus the Summer Solstice party, I think it is pretty close to the top in terms of it's gathering spaces and outreach.

The overall collection is 43,000 objects, but I think that the museum has often emphasized quality way more than quantity/encyclopedic collections. Also, while there isn't a comprehensive collection of one particular artist per se, I think they do an effective job of capturing many aspects of human history through art. They have many incredibly important pieces across stretching across virtually all different periods of history, which I enjoy because I'm more interested in history, and well, meaning than art itself.

One of the major pieces includes the Apollo sculpture by Praxiteles, which is considered by some experts to be the most esteemed ancient antiquity in the Western Hemisphere.

I think any list that DOESN'T have CMA at least in consideration for Top 10 has a questionable reputation, and I think it's entirely possible (since I've already seen lists that had this) that the CMA is in the Top 5, as a whole package.

[nepatz11]

The size of the collection is irrespective of the space to display it. Chicago has the second largest building space. I believe MFA Boston is third. Chicago also has a huge, amazing cafeteria and huge foyer spaces in new wing, which speak little of quality of art. This is not to disparage AIC because it is amazing, but i Have a hard time putting it over MET, NGA, Philly or MFA Boston. For those who have not seen it the new Chicago wing is AMAZING. But best museum in the world? Maybe because of the physical space, but looking at data the size of art collection you could make argument otherwise.


In terms of collection size the Met has 2100 European Paintings, Philadelphia Museum, National Gallery and MFA Boston have about 1600-1700 each and the AIC has 1250. However AIC has almost 600 European paintings on display, which is a proprtionally large percentage of collection. Regardign American painting the Met has almost 3000, the MFA Boston has 2100, and the National Gallery and Philadelphia Museum have about 500-600 each. Chicago has 577.

In terms of total Paintings I believe the Met has around 12000 paintings, the MFA 9200 paintings, Philadelphia has 4637, the NAtional Gallery has 3600 and Chicago has about 2700 paintings in its collection by comparison, of which 900 are on display at any given time. The MFA in Boston, also has about 900 paintings on display at any given time, but many of these are Indian, Chinese and Japanese. Even though the MFA Boston has 450 more European paintings in its collection, it displays almost 250 less European paintings than AIC at any time.



So I love the AIC. I was impressed by it. But the MET is the best museum in United States. Jousting for second place depends on how you define it, but MFA Boston has clearly second most comprhensive art collection in US. I would put Philadelphia 3rd (remember its 230000 items does NOT include Greek, Roman and I think Egyptian Art).

If you go by physical space and display AIC has an argument to be made for second best museum in United STates, and the large percentage of its EUropean Collection on display is outright impressive as is its new modern wing.

At the end of the day each of these institutions ha sits relative strength and weaknesses, and I have been to all of them and they are all world class among hte best on the planet.

This data is all off each of these museums respective websites.

[rbutler222]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Just wondering about this topic, here are the most visited according to Wikipedia

The following American art museums are among the 100 most visited in the world. 10 of these 17 are in the cities of New York, Washington, or San Francisco.

Ranked by annual visitors

1. The Metropolitan, New York 5.8 million
2. Nat'l Gallery of Art, DC 4.7 million
3. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 3.1 million
4. De Young Museum, San Francisco 2 million
5. Art Institute of Chicago, 1.3 million
6. Getty Center, Los Angeles 1.2 million
7. Nat'l Portrait Gallery, DC 1.1 milllion
8. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 1.1 million
9. Solomon Geggenheim Museum, New York 1.1 million
10. Smithsonian, DC 1.1 million
11. LA Co Museum of Art, 900 k
12. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 900 k
13. Freer Gallery of Art, DC 800 k
14. SFMoMA, San Francisco 700 k
15. Hirshhorn Museum, DC 600 k
16. Seattle Museum of Art 551 k
17. High Museum of Art, Atlanta 509 k

List of most visited art museums in the world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The MFA, Houston is now over 2 million (and soon to be the 3rd or 4th largest in Physical Size when the newest wing is completed in about 2020-2021).

[rbutler222]

Originally Posted by PatDJohns

Where is MOMA?

You must be kidding!!! It's the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.