New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art had 5,240,000 visitors during the fiscal year that ended in July 2010. Museum Director Thomas Campbell told Art Daily that such high attendance during a recession “sends a signal about the enduring importance of cultural institutions to the public.” Among the most popular of the Met’s recent exhibitions are the works of Vermeer and Picasso.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Ave.
New York, New York 10028-0198
212-535-7710
metmuseum.org
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago set an attendance record with 164,946 visitors in 2009. Its collection focuses on contemporary works from 1945 to the present, and its strengths include paintings and sculptures done by surrealist and minimalist artists. Conceptual photography, video installations and work by local Chicago artists are also part of the museum’s 2,500 piece collection.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-280-2660
mcachicago.org
The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, has seen an increase in admissions thanks to a three-year art loan program with the Louvre in Paris. Upcoming exhibitions include 40 paintings by Salvador Dalí; Venetian Renaissance works by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese; and an exhibit of posters and prints by Toulouse-Lautrec and other artists who worked in Paris in the late 19th century.
High Museum of Art
1280 Peachtree St., N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-733-4400
high.org
Phoenix, Arizona's Heard Museum is the country's foremost museum dedicated to the culture and art of the American Indian. The Heard collection is still evolving as curators collect work art from 21st century Indian artists. The Heard’s signature exhibit is HOME: Native People in the Southwest, a collection of more than 500 kachina dolls; 2,000 pieces of native-made jewelry, fetishes, rugs, blankets, baskets, beadwork, and pottery; and life-sized exhibits depicting the interiors of a Navajo hogan, a Hopi piki room and a Yaqui ramada.
Heard Museum
2301 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
602-252-8848
heard.org
The San Diego Museum of Art at Balboa Park, Southern California’s oldest and largest art museum, has a permanent collection that spans the globe. Its collection includes old world European Renaissance and Baroque masters; 19th- and 20th-century American art by Georgia O’Keefe, Asher Durand and Mary Cassatt; and art from Latin America and Asia. The oldest piece in the collection is from 5,000 B.C., while the newest are contemporary works by artists in Africa and Oceania.
The San Diego Museum of Art
1450 El Prado
Balboa Park
San Diego, CA 92101
619-232-7931
sdmart.org
The Seattle Art Museum is a world-class museum with acres of exhibition space. The art starts outside with a 3-story sculpture and moves inside with the museum's 23,000-piece permanent collection. Most of the collection is modern and contemporary, but SAM is also known for its large collection of Northwest Indian art. Other works are from Africa, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.
The Seattle Art Museum
1300 First Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
206-654-3100
Seattleartmuseum.org