There are so many fabulous museums in the world that you might feel a bit overwhelmed when contemplating which you should visit. Artalistic has rounded up its selection of the best art museums in the world whose stunning collections shouldn’t be missed. If you’re planning on traveling to one of the world’s major cities, this guide is sure to come in handy.



The best art museums in the world



Top five must-see museums



The Louvre, Paris

The Louvre is the largest, most visited museum of art and antiquities in the world. The museum was originally built as the Louvre castle and Palace of the kings of France. It contains more than 500,000 artworks, including many of the world’s most significant masterpieces, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault and the Venus de Milo by Alexandros of Antioch. The museum houses Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities as well as many styles art from prehistory to the 21st century. The Louvre has one of the richest and most varied collections in the world, placing it at the top of our list and hopefully yours!



The MET, New York

Many experts consider the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) to be one of the best museums in the world. It is located on Fifth Avenue in the heart of New York City. The museum opened to the public in 1872 and is a must-see if you are visiting the Big Apple. It houses more than 2 million works of art from around the world. Each wing brings you to a different era and location, whisking you around the world from ancient statues to French Impressionists and vast collections of pieces by American artists. The range of masterpieces on display is very broad: Andrea del Verrocchio's Madonna, Nicolas Poussin's The Abduction of the Sabine Women and being close enough to see each powerful brush stroke in Vincent van Gogh's Wheat Field with Cypresses will send shivers down your spine.



The Museum of Modern Art, New York

If you’ve just finished your trip around the world at the Met and you’d like to round off your world-wind tour of art history with a little modern art, you can take a thirty-minute stroll down 5th Ave along Central Park to the Museum of Modern Art. Also known as MoMA, this museum is the sixth most visited museum in the world. This six-story museum houses a large collection of modern and contemporary art including, Ernst Kirchner, Paul Klee, Vasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, René Magritte, Marcel Duchamp, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and countless others. We also suggest checking out the photography department.



The National Gallery, London

The next stop on our list of the best museums in the world brings us back across the Atlantic to London’s National Gallery. Inaugurated in 1824, this is one of the world’s most visited museums, and for good reason! This museum located in Trafalgar Square features one of the world’s greatest collections of 13th to 19th century Western European paintings, including The Raising of Lazarus by Sebastiano del Piombo, Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael and The Death of Actaeon by Titian.



The Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Coming in at number five on our list of the best art museums in the world is the Hermitage Museum. The museum is the largest in the world, comprised of six historic buildings, five of which are open to the public. This massive complex houses three million artworks, of which 60,000 are on display. 10,000 rooms span 15 miles (24 km) of galleries presenting you with masterpiece after masterpiece. Highlights of the collection include stunning pieces by Rubens, Matisse, Gauguin, Rembrandt, Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci.



Runners up on our list of the best museums in the world



Doge’s Palace, Venice

Doge's Palace is one of the main landmarks in Venice. This palace, located in the famous St. Mark's Square, was the residence of the Doge of Venice and was built in the Venetian Gothic style. Its magnificent, expansive galleries showcase paintings by Titian and Veronese, as well as monumental masterpieces like Tintoretto's Paradise.



Rijksmuseum – The Museum of the Netherlands, Amsterdam

The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of Holland. Located in Amsterdam, it boasts a collection of 8,000 artworks displayed in 80 different galleries. The works take you on a retrospective tour of 800 years of Dutch art history from Rembrandt to Vermeer and Delft.



The Museum of Contemporary Art, Rio de Janeiro

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) opened in 1996 in Rio de Janeiro and is the symbol of Niterói. The museum itself is a work of art, its curving forms rising above Guanabara Bay. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, the museum houses more than 1,200 artworks from 20th century Brazilian art, including the João Sattamini Collection.



The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar

The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, was inaugurated in 2008. It showcases a collection of Islamic art spanning nearly fifteen centuries. The collection includes paintings, glassware, ironwork, ceramics, manuscripts, Iranian textiles and 13th-century metalwork.



The Museo Soumaya, Mexico City

The Museo Soumaya is a private museum in Mexico City. The architect Fernando Romero constructed this new six-story building in 2011. It is covered in 16,000 hexagonal aluminium tiles. Its galleries cover 170,000ft2 and house more than 66,000 pieces of art. The majority of the art consists of European art from the 15th to the 20th centuries as well as Mexican art, religious relics and historical documents and coins. The collection includes breathtaking pieces by Picasso, Dali and Rodin.



We hope that you are able to visit some of the places on our list of the best museums in the world. Feel free to browse our website - Artalistic is one of the world’s leading platforms for selling and purchasing art, including paintings, sculptures, photography and drawings