What to do and see in Massachusetts, United States: The Best Art Museums

Boston's oldest, largest and best-known art institution, the MFA houses one of the world's most comprehensive art collections and is renowned for its Impressionist paintings, Asian and Egyptian collections and early American art.

The Clark Art Institute is best known for its French Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and especially Pierre-Auguste Renoir, with more than thirty paintings by the artist. The collection is also rich in American paintings by Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, George Inness, Frederic Remington, and Mary Cassatt; Italian and Northern Renaissance masterpieces; portraits and landscapes by European masters; and an extraordinary collection of silver, porcelain, and furniture. An active program of special exhibitions brings great works of art from around the world to the museum. Designed by renowned Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando, the recently opened Clark Center is the centerpiece of the Clark's campus. The center includes special exhibition galleries as well as retail and dining spaces. It overlooks a dramatic three-tiered reflecting pool, integrating indoor and outdoor spaces and creating a stunning visual connection to the woodland surroundings and other buildings located on the campus. This sweeping new landscape design transforms the Clark's 140-acre campus and underscores new sustainability initiatives. In 1950 the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute was founded as a permanent home for the private art collection of Sterling and Francine Clark. In 1955 Sterling-who was an avid horseman with strong family ties to Williamstown and Cooperstown, New York-and his wife Francine presided at the official opening of the museum, sharing their magnificent yet little-known collection with the world for the first time. Since the founding, the museum has gained international stature for the quality of its collection, innovative special exhibitions, and Research and Academic Program.

Exhibit hours and days vary throughout the year. For details please visit our website. **Advance reservations are required during the pandemic.** Most, but not all exhibits may be open at this time. ** New exhibits this year include: - An outdoor Wetu (Wampanoag dwelling), - The Turning Point - Mayflower Exhibit, - WWII Commemoration, and - Honoring the Suffrage Movement. Explore Cape Cod of centuries past with 12 galleries in 14 exhibits, starting with a tour of a historical dwelling built circa 1752. Discover Cape Cod's captivating history, art, and culture at the Chatham Historical Society's Atwood House Museum. In addition to the 18th century Atwood House, Museum highlights include: a Mural Barn with works by Alice Stallknecht, the Nickerson North Beach Camp, a fishing gallery, Double Take Then and Now photo exhibit, Main Street Cape Cod, stories of the Pendleton and other shipwrecks, several rotating exhibits, a research facility, a popular gift shop and more.

The Martha's Vineyard Museum (MVM) is a historical and cultural institution collecting art, artifacts, oral histories, documents, and photographs that help tell the stories of Martha's Vineyard from its formation as an island to the present. Founded as the Dukes County Historical Society in 1922, it was officially renamed the Martha's Vineyard Museum in 2006 to better reflect its focus on both collecting the history of the island and presenting, educating, and sharing it with the public. In 2011, MVM purchased the 1895 Marine Hospital site in Vineyard Haven and set out to transform it into a new museum. MVM made the decision to maintain ownership of part of its original Edgartown campus in order to continue to steward the historic Cooke House and create a public garden for the community. In March 2019, the Vineyard Haven site opened to the public with great fanfare and a blockbuster exhibit celebrating the island's profound influence on the work of Thomas Hart Benton.

The museum details the history of the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company.

Fruitlands Museum is comprised of four separate museums, showcasing Transcendentalists, Shakers, Native Americans and American paintings on 210 acres of meadows and woods with 2.5 miles of trails and a breathtaking view of the Nashua River Valley. The Fruitlands Museum Store sells fine crafts by local artists and the Museum Café, which is open during the main season (April 15 through November 7), focuses on locally sourced, sustainable cuisine reflective of the heritage of New England.

Provincetown's municipal center also contains 30 pieces of art donated by local artists.

Experience art and culture from New England and around the world at one of the region’s largest art museums. Explore the museum’s vast collections and changing exhibitions, ranging from modern art to photography to Asian art and culture. The museum campus features numerous parks, period gardens, and 24 historic properties, including Yin Yu Tang, the only example of Chinese vernacular architecture on display in the United States.

A Venetian palace in the middle of Boston, Gardner's home is now a museum displaying her impressive, eclectic collection of European, American and Asian art, including sculpture, paintings, furniture, ceramics and textiles. Visitors can stroll or rest in a spectacular skylit courtyard filled with plants and flowers.