Art galleries not only provide shelter to admirable and alluring works but also present a nation’s culture and ancient history. They dwell in different spots in the world ready to amaze the art enthusiast or simply to one who’s up for a different tinge of creation and thrill. In today’s theme, let us take a tour of the some of the most notable art galleries in the world. Ready to feast your eyes and plan to add these ones on your next itinerary of art gallery hopping.
Musee d’Orsay (Paris)
A Museum in a Station
Formerly a railway station, Musee d’Orsay is by far one of the largest museum located in Europe. With its massive, bright and open structure, the museum was designed by three architects named Lucien Magne, Émile Bénard & Victor Laloux’s for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. It is an internationally renowned arts center that devotes to French & Western art creation dating from 1848-1914 and represents the rich collection of Academism, Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism and Art Nouvea. Other expressive forms include decorative arts, sculptures, architecture, furniture, and photography. Among the collection of artwork featured in the heart of this gallery are works by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. Alongside the collections, there are varieties of cultural concerts, performances and cafe readings that take place regularly at the museum that never fails to leave a positive impression to each visitor.
National Gallery of Art – Washington
The American Gallery
The National Gallery of Art made to reality by Andrew W. Mellon in 1937, is one of the remarkable galleries that Americans and other nations continually appreciate. It was originally designed by architect John Russell Pope and conceived to construction as supported by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It consists of an East and West building that holds world-class collections that Andrew Mellon donated with 126 paintings and 26 sculptures. The collections range from Jan van Eyck’s Annunciation, Raphael’s Alba Madonna to Francisco de Goya’s Marquesa de Pontejos and Gilbert Stuart’s The Skater. Other masterpieces of art come from talented art donors all over the world such as nations from Italy, Great Britain and France.
In time, the museum currently holds a global variety of 141,000 paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, prints, drawings, photographs and new media tracing the development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present. Also, a lot of educational programs, research, events, exhibitions and concerts are conducted in the gallery every year to support the museum’s mission of serving the United States of America of preserving, collecting, exhibiting, and fostering the understanding of works of art at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards. Likewise, the museum places a great emphasis on horticulture to maintain the West building for indoor and outdoor gardens. This is to provide and a place of relaxation for visitors and secure the ambiance of the museum.
Centre Pompidou – Paris
New Wave of Escalator in a Musuem
A home for modern and contemporary art & architectural marvel, Centre Pompidou located in Paris is a success art gallery from the start. It was inaugurated in 31 January 1977 and opened to the public in 2 February 1977. The opening was met with grand success and is considered as one of the most visited museums in France today. It was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers where the captivating structure is recognizable by its exterior escalators and enormous coloured tubing. The idea behind the concept of having such was from President Georges Pompidou who decided that the vacant site of the Plateau Beaubourg should be used for the construction of a multidisciplinary cultural centre of an entirely new type. And indeed, the vision for such centre turned into reality with visitors for the museum welcoming some 3.5 to 3.8 million visitors per annum, depending on the year.
The museum humbly contains Europe’s leading collection of 20th and 21st century art collection and is considered one of the largest in the world having over 100, 000 works dating from 1905 to the present day. Among the masterpieces held dear in this haven are the distinguished works by Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, Robert Delaunay, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Photography, experimental films, videos and other industrial collection are also embraced in appearance in this museum as it is proudly pleased to open out to new art scenes.
British Museum – London
A glimpse of human civilization
One of the most famous art galleries in the world is the British Museum in Bloomsbury, London. It is a public institution pledged in dedicating its collections to the whole of human history, art and culture. With over eight million artworks in place, it is one of the oldest national public museum founded since 1753 and is continually growing at present. It was originally designed by the architect Sir Robert Smirke where he developed a classically inspired Greek architecture. The museum is quadrangle building with four wings: the north, east, south and west wings. The gallery houses artworks from varying continents as it illustrate and document the story of human civilization from its beginning to the present. The artworks include of Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, Roman, European and of Middle Eastern galleries, among others. Some notable works that the museum holds are the Rosetta Stone (1802), the Townley collection of classical sculpture (1805), the Parthenon sculptures (1816), Egyptian mummies and The Tomb-chapel of Nebamun located at the ground floor. It also includes Chinese ceramics, clocks, watches and Europe art collections since AD 1050–1540. Furthermore, the museum supports innovative research, excellence and it has a facility called “The Centre” that provides world-class facilities for visitors and researchers interested in conservation, scientific research and collection management. The British museum is by far the most visited attraction in United Kingdom with around 6.5 million annual visitors.
National Gallery – London
Classic and timeless
At the very centre of London lies the National Gallery that houses one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world. It was established in 1824 in Trafalgar Square and presently carries an antique collection of 2,300 paintings from the 13th to the 19th century of Western European tradition. All of the major traditions of Western European painting represent famous artists from late medieval, Renaissance Italy to the French Impressionists. Famous artists include artworks from Titan, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Cezzane, Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Hogarth.