Top Art Museums in Europe

Austria

Belvedere Museum has made its home in a Baroque palace complex in Vienna. The art collection ranges from the Middle Ages to modern art, focusing on Austrian painting. The museum has Secessionist masterpieces produced during the Vienna Secession movement by Gustav Klimt, including The Kiss, and artworks by Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka.

England

Created by the British government, the National Gallery in London is located on Trafalgar Square. It is home to about 2,300 paintings from the 13th century to the end of the 19th century.

Tate Modern in London plays host to modern art featuring both modern and contemporary artworks. The main collection displays consist of 8 areas with a named theme or subject. Within each area there are some rooms that change periodically, showing different artworks in keeping with the overall theme or subject. The themes are changed less frequently.

France

The Louvre in Paris was once the fortress and palace of French kings. Home to an impressive art collection, it is the most famous and greatest art museum in the world. It is located on the Right Bank of the Seine River in the 1st arrondissement district. The museum is home to the most canonical works of Western art, among them the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory.

The Musée d’Orsay has found its home in a former train station in Paris. The museum display French artworks from the mid-16th century to WWI. Among the displays are paintings, furniture, and photography. It is home to the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces. Opening in 1986, it is one of the largest art museums in Europe.

Italy

The Uffizi Gallery in Florence is home to Renaissance masterpieces with artworks by da Vinci, Botticelli, Bellini, Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Caravaggio. The museum is next to the Piazza della Signoria in the historic center of the city. It is also one of the largest and best-known in the world and holds a collection of priceless artworks, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance. 

One of the largest and most significant collections of artwork and artifacts in the world is found in the Vatican Museums. Early in the 16th century, Pope Julius II established the museums. Only 20,000 of the collection’s over 70,000 pieces of art—which include Renaissance masterpieces and statues from ancient Rome—are presently on exhibit.

The focal point of the 54 galleries making up the Vatican Museums complex is Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Some of the most well-known artworks in the world are frescoes portraying episodes from the Book of Genesis in the Bible.

Other highlights of the museums include

The Raphael Rooms—four rooms of frescoes depicting biblical and historical scenes by Renaissance master Raphael

Gallery of Maps—120 meters of exquisitely painted topographical maps of Italy

Sala Rotunda—a smaller-scale version of the Pantheon that houses colossal ancient statues and mosaics dating from the Roman Empire

The Bramante spiral staircase designed by Giuseppe Momo

The Netherlands

The Rijksmuseum has an impressive collection of about 900,000 items, among them a huge collection of artworks from the Dutch Golden Age and a collection of Asian art. Among the Dutch artworks displayed are works by well-known Dutch painters such as Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jan Steen, and Johannes Vermeer. The museum is located in Museum Square in Amsterdam.

The old residence and art studio of Dutch artist Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp is known as the Rubens House. It is now a magnificent museum featuring the artwork of Rubens as well as 17th-century furniture and décor. On display are Rubens’ paintings, including some of his best-known pieces like “The Elevation of the Cross" and "The Descent from the Cross." 

The Van Gogh Museum is dedicated to the artworks of Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, located at Museum Square in Amsterdam. The museum features the largest collection of paintings by the artist in the world. Here you’ll find about 200 paintings, 400 drawings and sketches, and 700 letters. It is the second-most visited art museum in the Netherlands.

Spain

Madrid’s main art institution, the Museo del Prado, has the largest collection of European art from the 12th to the 20th centuries. (pictured above) The museum displays artwork by prominent Spanish artists like Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Rubens, and Bosch. In addition to 8,000 paintings, the museum also features a sizable collection of sculptures, sketches, and decorative art.

Portugal

In addition to ongoing exhibitions, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao features modern artworks by artists such as Serra, Warhol, and Rothko. Traveling exhibitions are another element of the museum. King Juan Carlos I of Spain opened the museum in 1997 displaying 250 artworks. It is among the biggest museums in Spain. Frank Gehry, a Canadian-American architect, designed the museum built next to the Nervion River. The museum typically hosts themed exhibitions.

Russia

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg was founded in 1764 by Czarina Catherine the Great. The museum consists of six large buildings located along the River Neva. It is home to the world’s largest art collection, encompassing over three million artworks. The Hermitage focuses on Western European art displays in 120 rooms spanning a period between the Middle Ages and the present. Artists represented there include Rembrandt, Goya, Picasso, Matisse, Raphael, da Vinci, Rubens, van Gogh, and Cézanne.