Willinform
Table of Contents
Willinform
a portal for thinkers and doers... Art
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For the most complete worldwide directories of all types of museums online, use the Virtual Library, and/or try MUSEE which has links to over 2500 museums around the world, or use World Wide Arts Resources.
Quick links to some of the most interesting and significant art museums and galleries:
The Art Institute of Chicago : both a museum and a school. Over 300,000 works of art within 10 curatorial departments.
Biggar Museum and Gallery : "New York is Big, but this is Biggar". Saskatchewan's answer to the sophistication of the Big Apple.
The British Library : one of the world's great collections of "what-you-have".
The British Museum : with 10 curatorial departments, a staff of more than 1000, and collections of world-wide scope, this is one of the world's outstanding museums.
Brooklyn Museum of Art : one of the world's largest and finest art institutions, with a permanent collection of over 1.5 million objects, and a forward-thinking active board that successfully resisted powerful,and powerfully misguided, political pressure from Mayor Giuliani.
Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery : a permanent collection of over 500 pieces of representational American art.
Château de Versailles : serving as both royal residence and Museum of French History, Versailles is home to one of the world's great collections, with many masterpieces from the Middle Ages through to the 20th Century.
Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave : included as an example of virtual exhibiting allowing damage-proof exposure to otherwise inaccessible artwork.
The Cleveland Museum of Art : based in a 1916 Beaux Arts building in the 15-acre Fine Arts Garden, and with a collection of over 30,000 works of art representing over 5,000 years of history, it can be fairly judged as among the world's great museums.
Denver Art Museum : American European and Asian; Modern and Contemporary; but where the DAM excels is in its New World (Pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial) and Native Arts collections, which are among the largest and best-presented in the world.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco : comprising the M.H. de Young (American, African, Oceanic, the Americas) and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (ancient and European), the FAMSF display an awesome collection in beautiful settings.
Frick Collection : 16 galleries of Western painting, sculpture, and decorative art, hosted in the beauty and tranquility of the New York mansion of H. Clay Frick.
J. Paul Getty Museum : with a web site almost as big as the city, the Getty represents "true culture" in LA. The hilltop campus of the Getty Center off Sunset and I405 has outstanding collections of European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and photographs. There is also a museum in the Getty Villa in Malibu.
Guggenheim Museum : great art collection housed in the unique Frank Lloyd Wright structure at 5th & 89th in New York. Other sites include Soho - New York, Bilbao, Venice, and Berlin, and the web (exceptional enough to be called a site of its own).
Halle Saint Pierre : Contemporary art museum in Montmartre. Has slide shows outlining displays.
Hermitage : St. Peterburg's State Hermitage Museum is one of the world's most outstanding collections of art, with over 3 million items tracing world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 21st century.
The Library of Congress : should it be classified here? Quoting The Rock, "It doesn't matter". Awesome site - not to be missed.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art : permanent collection of over 110,000 works makes it the premier visual arts museum on the West Coast.
The Louvre : Paris is home to possibly the world's most famous museum - even if it is an administrative disaster. Housed in a medieval fortress and palace to the kings of France, the 7 departments of its encyclopedic collections incorporate works dating from the birth of the great antique civilizations right up to the first half of the 19th century.
Marmottan : a shrine to Impressionists.
The Mendel : Saskatoon, Saskatchewan's foremost Art Gallery, founded by Fred Mendel : featured voices, the work of Joni Mitchell, as its most popular display ever.
Metropolitan Museum of Art : one of the world's largest and greatest.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts : one of North America's finest encyclopedic collections, comprising Canadian, Contemporary, Inuit and Amerindian, and European art. Also includes prints, drawings, and decorative arts. Patience will be needed to navigate the glacial-speed web site.
Museo De Las Americas : an outstanding Denver-based collection of art from the Latino people of the Americas.
Museum of Anthropology : Northwest Coast First Nations collection housed in a spectacular Arthur Erickson-designed building overlooking the Georgia Strait in Vancouver.
Museum of Modern Art : another New York classic.
National Galleries of Scotland : home to Scotland's greatest collection of European painting, sculpture, and graphic art from the Renaissance to the present day. Site loads about as quickly as a Scot reaches for his wallet.
The National Gallery : in London, houses the English national collection of Western European painting, with over 2,300 works covering every European school of painting from 1260 to 1900.
The National Gallery of Australia : Australian, Aboriginal, Asian, and International art, including paintings, prints, barks, sculpture, photography, posters, textiles, illustrated books, and decorative arts.
The National Gallery of Ireland : an important collection, with paintings from the 14th to the 20th centuries, comprising Italian, French, Dutch, and British schools.
National Museum of Anthropology : in Mexico City. A beautiful architectural setting for a comprehensive presentation of Mexican art and history. Unfortunately, the inadequate web site does not reflect the respect that should be paid to this wonderful museum.
National Museum of Fine Arts : in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Extensive collection of national and international works.
National Museum of Visual Arts : in Montevideo, Uruguay. Over 5,000 quality works by national artists.
Art Gallery of New South Wales : in Sydney, with a large collection of Australian, Aboriginal, Asian, and Western works.
Officiel : Not officially a museum, but worthy of inclusion here. This site describes current exhibitions in Paris, not just in museums.
Art Gallery of Ontario : based in Toronto, it is the 8th largest art museum in North America, with more than 24,000 works representing over 1000 years of extraordinary European, Canadian, Inuit, modern and contemporary art.
Musée Orsay : in Paris, with a great collection of European art
Philadelphia Museum of Art : an integrated presentation of a full range of fine and applied arts from Asia, Europe, and the US, including painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, furniture, metal and glass work, and entire furnished rooms from historic houses.
Museo del Prado : in Madrid, it is one of the world's largest collections of exceptional painting, sculptures, drawings, and other artistic treasures.
Rodin Museum : also has works by other well-known artists.
The Royal Collection : one of the finest art collections in the world, held in trust for the nation by the Royal Family. Spread around in Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Tower of London, etc. The web site creator hasn't learned thumbnails yet, so the site loads like molasses in January.
The Tate Gallery : with over 25,000 works, the Tate has developed from its modernist base in London, and in addition to Tate Modern now includes Tate Britain - with over 500 years of great British art, Tate Liverpool - largest modern art gallery outside of London, and Tate St Ives - showing modern British art in a spectacular coastal setting.
Uffizi Gallery : one of the most wonderful collections of Italian art. Web site is trying to catch up.
Vancouver Museum : Canada's largest civic museum, with extensive collections in natural history, archaeology, ethnology, and Asian arts.
The Vatican Museums : a large and varied collection. Web site has good access to a variety of images.
The Victoria & Albert Museum : in London, is the world's largest museum of the decorative arts, with 145 galleries, including national collections of sculpture, furniture, fashion, and photographs.
Virtual Museum of Diego Rivera : This muralist painter brought classicist, simplified and colorful painting to the public by using walls and buildings to create a series of murals catching the most significant moments in Mexican history. No physical museum can house this work; a web site is ideal.
The ART MARKET
www.artvault.com adds an educational component to the more standard art and antiques sales and auctions.
www.art-sales.com www.theartcentre.com www.art-sellers.com www.thirdstoneartgallery.com