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Apparently, Toledo, OH's Toledo Museum of Art is internationally renown and includes numerous Van Goghs, El Grecos, and Rembrandts.
I had no idea that Richmond, VA, had the largest collection of faberge eggs outside Russia (5 of the remaining 57 in the world).
What other American cities have a wealth of art (either in quantity or quality), but haven't caught much buzz?
Conversely, what major American cities have art museums that are thoroughly overlooked? For example, the American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., is consistently voted as the locals' favorite museum, yet because it's not on the National Mall, it gets much lower foot traffic.
The Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT has one of the largest button collections in the world (over 20,000). I find that many older industrial cities have terrific art museums because of all the rich factory owners that lived in the cities a century ago. Places like Springfield, Rochester, Hartford, New Britain, Toledo, etc.
My mom went on a business trip to Detroit a few years ago, and she was struck by how good the Art Museum there was. At least at the time, though, the city could only afford to keep it open two days a week, not sure if that's changed.
I saw one Top-10 list that included St. Louis, remarkable in that there is no admission charge -- just walk in and look around. On the grounds of what was once the world's biggest zoo -- also free.
Some great underrated art museums: the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Detroit Institute of Art. The best time to accumulate great art collections was from the late 19th century through the immediate aftermath of WWII. Many of the cities that rose after WWII have great buildings but their collections tend to be not quite as good as the 2nd and 3rd tier Northeastern and Midwestern cities that accumulated their collections back when high end art was much cheaper.
The older cities in the south like New Orleans and Richmond have good museums too.
My mom went on a business trip to Detroit a few years ago, and she was struck by how good the Art Museum there was. At least at the time, though, the city could only afford to keep it open two days a week, not sure if that's changed.
The DIA is closed on Monday's and Tuesday's. It largely operates on endowments so I'm not sure how much the cities financial situation has played a role in those hours.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars
My mom went on a business trip to Detroit a few years ago, and she was struck by how good the Art Museum there was. At least at the time, though, the city could only afford to keep it open two days a week, not sure if that's changed.
I don't even know if the Detroit Institute of Art is that overlooked at all. I remember hearing a lot about it years back, and when I spent a summer in the region back in 2013 it was one of the top recommended places to go to.
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