New York is an international center of the arts and any trip to the city would not be complete without a visit to one or more of the numerous museums, galleries, plays, concerts, and shows. Appreciation of art has been around in New York since its inception and artists of all walks of life and from all corners of the world have flocked there to create, display, share, and sell their work.

Inside the Museum of Modern Art in NYC

Art in New York City owes a part of its present day vitality to the wealthy industrialists of the 19th century who financed the construction of Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other prominent cultural institutions, creating a network of various platforms for artists deliver their work to the public. Currently, New York City boasts over 2,000 arts and cultural organizations and 500+ art galleries, from the largest auction houses to hole-in-the-wall galleries so small that someone has to take you there to find it.

In fact, art is so entrenched in the culture of New York that the city has a law requiring any building it owns to allocate at least 1% of the first $20 million and at least 0.5% of any money over $20 million of any building project to art work. The maximum the city would be required to spend caps out at a cool $400,000.

The numerous museums in the City can be divided into several groups, including Art, Culture and History, Design, Natural History, and Children’s museums.

Here are a few top picks:

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• American Museum of Natural History
• Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
• Whitney Museum of American Art
• The Guggenheim Museum
• Museum of the Moving Image
• Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum