Whether its modern, fine, abstract or street art that you love, travel will always provide you with a new fix no matter where you visit – but there’s no doubt that some cities in the world are more famous for their art than others. I’m a huge art fan, so whenever I travel I like to check out unusual galleries and wander city streets looking for a Banksy.
Here are my best cities in the world for art lovers.
New York
The Big Apple has it all when it comes to art – with highlights including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA (Modern Art Gallery), The Whitney and so much more. As well as these dedicated spaces, there’s so much street art to be seen, as well as making sure you look up once in a while – New York City architecture is among the best in the world, not to mention the amount of famous landmarks all in one place!
Paris
Perhaps the most famous art space in the world, the Louvre really does live up to the hype for me. It’s huge and if you want to see everything you’ll need at least a week, but you can also just see the highlights, like the can’t miss Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. One of my favourite parts of visiting the Louvre is also the exterior of the building – huge buildings which were once used as a fortress that now sit alongside an ultra-modern clear pyramid structure. This layout has been controversial, but to me I love that mixture of old and new.
Barcelona
If you are at all familiar with Barcelona then you will no doubt have heard of the flamboyant Spanish artist/architect Antoni Gaudi, famous for his colourful Gothic architecture. The majority of his work can be found here – the Sagrada Familia, a huge Gothic church towering over the city as well as Casa Batlló and Park Guell, a huge park set atop a hill overlooking the city. I loved walking the streets of the city looking out for Gaudi’s colourful buildings and loved the playful-ness of them – great for kids too!
Melbourne
In my opinion this is the most cultural and ‘European’ of all Australian cities, and this is in the most part due to the high quality of art that’s found there. A visit to the city wouldn’t be complete without wandering the central business district lanes filled with street art, and my personal favourite, the Gertrude Gallery, which is a small space showing some amazing modern art from around the world.
Berlin
A city with this much history is bound to not disappoint when it come to art, and Berlin certainly doesn’t! By far my favourite art in Berlin is the Berlin Wall – painted with various murals, tributes and some amazing portraits. But if this isn’t enough for you then head to any of the weird and wonderful galleries and museums that the city has to offer, like the ‘Temporare Kunsthalle’ which houses temporary exhibitions throughout the year from contemporary artists.
Rome
Religious or not, there’s no denying the beauty of the Sistene Chapel, a definite must see for any traveller. The Vatican itself is massive gallery of stunning architecture and design, so spend time wandering through the area to breathe it all in. This goes for the centre of Rome as well – look up and all around – you never know what you might spot, from Gothic churches to beautiful fountains.
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Great post!
Speaking of street art I found this great site by google that allows you to click on a world map and see Street Art from all over the world (view my facebook page to see). When I visited Rome (and all over Italy) I was astounded by the amount of graffiti. Much of it was good, some just scribbles.
I went to the Sistine Chapel and I found that it was lovely but so dark inside and so many people it was hard to enjoy it. People were just pushing constantly and rather than admiring the work, we were rushed out to make way for the people trying to get in. I found Venice to be a much better place to view art. There are so many churches and scuolas that you can enter and at times be the only one inside at certain times of day. This way you can get much more intimate with the setting and the works themselves.
The Wanderfull Traveler
Sounds fab – thanks for the tip, Ill check it out!
I loved the article. I was wondering whether Barcelona would be in the list. I spent some time there last year and just bounced around looking at all the amazing buildings. In November we are planning on moving to Australia for a year and Melbourne is high our list of places to possibly stay!
James
Thanks James! Thats exciting you’re moving to Aus – melb is a great place and my home town! If you need any info give me a shout!