A list of the best museums in the United States that focus predominantly on art (paintings, sculpture, glass/porcelain/ceramics, and other visual media) voted on by the Ranker community.
When voting, consider the comprehensiveness of a collection if it's...well... a comprehensive museum such as the Art Institute in Chicago or the comprehensiveness of the period it represents such as the Museum of Modern Art. If you feel you can judge the quality of a museum's collection, the museum's effectiveness in helping visitors understand what they're seeing, or other aspects that make that museum worthwhile, please do!
Information on holdings and size of collections from Wikipedia
http://m.ranker.com/list/best-art-museums-in-the-united-states/admiralcrunch,
Art Institute of Chicago
This is the second largest art museum in the U.S. after the Metropolitan in New York and has over 260,000 pieces. A comprehensive museum best known for impressionist, post-impressionist and American art. Also has a renowned collection of miniatures and one of the largest collections of Claude Monet paintings. Also well-known for installations of African-American art, antique Asian art, and 20th Century furniture.
Brooklyn Museum
A comprehensive art institute with a famous collection of Egyptian art, Pacific Islander art, and one of the most important collections of American art (especially 19th Century). Known also for its new collection of 20th Century Feminist art.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
A comprehensive museum holding more than 460,000 works of art. Famous for impressionist, post-impressionist art and Ancient Egyptian artifacts. Also famous for one of the largest collections of Japanese art and pottery in the world.
Museum of Modern Art
New York, NY Considered one of the greatest collections of art from the Impressionist period forward including some of the most famous works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Dali, Matisse, Henri Rousseau, and Andrew Wyeth. Holdings include about 150,000 works plus "22,000 films and 4 million film stills".
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC - one of the largest art museums in the U.S. Possesses a major collection of renaissance art including the only Da Vinci in the Americas, Spanish art, Dutch masters, impressionists and in the East Wing, vast holdings in modern art.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
A comprehensive museum with over 225,000 pieces. Includes famous collections of Flemish and Italian Renaissance art, Chinese porcelains, Persian and Turkish rugs, and one of the world's best exhibits of sculptures by Rodin. Also has important impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern art and a very large comprehensive collection of American art.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, NY - focuses on impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern. Famous for its spiral ramp gallery allowing guests to see paintings close up and again across the atrium. Displays only several hundred of its 7000-piece collection.
The Cloisters
New York, NY Focuses on Medieval art and architecture. (A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, New York - focuses on modern and contemporary American art including living artists. The collection contains about 20,000 pieces. The museum is famous for the Whitney Biennial predominantly featuring unknown and emerging artists and is considered one of the most important art events in the world.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The largest art museum in the United States with over two million items in its collection. Famous for its Egyptian holdings and antiquities from other cultures. Also an important collection of Renaissance art, Asian art and porcelains, and a world-renowned collection of costumes and musical instruments.