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Visiting the Louvre in Paris or the Met in New York is on every aesthete’s bucket list. But some masterpieces can be found tucked away in smaller locales filled with one-of-a-kind museums, festivals, and murals. We’ve rounded up six underrated art destinations in the U.S. that prove it. From Baltimore to Tucson and everywhere in between, here's where you’ll find the world’s biggest Matisse collection, a museum dedicated to antique musical instruments, and the first gallery honoring the American Arts and Crafts movement.
Baltimore, Maryland
Sandwiched between the cultural meccas of Washington, D.C., and New York, Baltimore doesn’t get enough accolades for its bustling art scene. But locals know that the city offers a treasure trove for all types of art enthusiasts, from the Matisse-filled Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) to the American Visionary Art Museum where a shimmery, eight-foot-tall galaxy egg stands guard in front of a building that showcases lesser-known and amateur artists. A bonus for the budget-conscious: Entry to the city’s two fine-arts museums, the BMA and the Walters Art Museum, is free. And the collection at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture traces 400 years of influential Black Americans, including activists, artists, athletes.
Theater lovers can take in Broadway favorites at the historic Hippodrome Theatre, or original works from new and established playwrights at Baltimore Center Stage and Everyman Theatre. For smaller community productions, there's Spotlighters Theatre and the experimental Single Carrot Theatre.
The East Coast’s largest arts festival, Artscape, was canceled here for the last two summers due to the pandemic. Keep an eye out to see if this annual event returns in summer 2022: The city’s Mount Vernon neighborhood turns into a bustling open-air museum, art market, and live performance venue for three days in July.
Where to stay: The Ivy Baltimore provides stylish, historic digs in Mount Vernon and is home to an exceptional in-house bistro, Magdalena.
Indianapolis, Indiana
While this Midwestern city draws crowds for the Indy 500, there’s more to Indianapolis than racing. The first stop on a cultural tour might seem like an unlikely one: the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is consistently ranked as one of the best children’s museums in the U.S., and the five-story museum and outdoor recreation center is also fun for adults. The recently installed permanent exhibit dedicated to Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai sits in the Power of Children wing; the display includes a recreation of the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s childhood home leading up to the violence she faced while pursuing an education.
Set in a building reminiscent of Southwest pueblos, the Eiteljorg Museum features a rich permanent collection of Native American art that includes pottery, textiles, jewelry, and contemporary multimedia installations. Visitors can also admire the oversized paintings of landscapes, cowboys, and other scenes from the American West.
To mix arts and the outdoors, visit the expansive campus of Newfields' 152 acres that encompass a nature park, beer garden, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Highlights in the latter include pieces from Picasso, Cézanne, Georgia O'Keeffe, and some of the original LOVE sculptures by Robert Indiana that preceded (by six years) the ones iconically placed in the City of Brotherly Love.
Architecture lovers should stop by the city’s newest food market, the Garage Food Hall at Bottleworks District, to savor local cuisine in a 1930s Art-Deco building that once housed a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant.
Where to stay: The Bottleworks Hotel, housed in the same former soda-bottling complex with an Art-Deco flair, features colorful splashes of tile, terrazzo floors, and black-and-white photography of the construction workers who built the original structure.
Greenville, South Carolina
Art permeates every corner of Greenville, South Carolina, where visitors will find public sculptures and murals, dozens of museums and galleries, six performing arts theaters, and two ballet companies. A great way to experience the breadth of the local art scene is to visit during the annual May festival Artisphere, featuring dance, concerts, and pop-up galleries. The Greenville County Museum of Art houses the largest public collection of mid-20th century watercolor artist Andrew Wyeth, and an impressive selection of prints and paintings from one of the most influential living American abstract artists, Jasper Johns. The museum’s current exhibit, “Soul Deep: African-American Masterworks,” features 38 paintings, sculptures, and more from 20 Black artists.
One of the most unique art attractions, the Sigal Music Museum displays rare and antique harpsichords, pianos, and woodwinds from the 17th to the 20th centuries. To hear music performed live, step inside the Greenville Symphony or the Peace Center for the Performing Arts, which hosts touring Broadway productions as well.
Where to stay: The AC Hotel Greenville impressively features paintings, sculptures, and textiles created by local artists.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Though best known for its three-mile boardwalk whose focal point is a 34-foot-tall bronze statue of the Roman sea god Neptune, Virginia Beach offers visitors much more than just sand and surf. Six years ago, the city dedicated a portion of its downtown to art galleries, murals, and artisan shops. Take a self-guided walking tour to explore it all on your own or take a free guided First Friday or Second Saturday tour. In August, visitors can watch artists paint murals live during the annual Mural Fest. ViBe is also where you’ll find the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, which hosts a rotating selection of exhibits from local and national artists and an annual Boardwalk Art Show in October. Starting in April 2022, the museum will host a provocative exhibit from the renowned artist and environmentalist Maya Lin. “Maya Lin: A Study of Water” will feature her sculptures depicting rising oceans and melting icebergs.
Where to stay: Once a getaway for presidents and luminaries like Elizabeth Taylor, the swanky Historic Cavalier Hotel & Beach Club houses an on-site distillery.
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St. Petersburg, Florida
Art aficionados arriving in St. Petersburg make a beeline for the waterfront Dali Museum with good reason: It’s the only North American gallery dedicated to the late Spanish surrealist artist and contains 2,400 works spanning Dali’s career. Featuring a geodesic glass bubble jutting out of a rectangular building, the museum’s design is as whimsical as Dali’s art. An exhibit dedicated to Picasso’s influence in Southern Europe, which will run from January to May 2022, offers another reason to pay a visit.
The city this fall welcomed two new attractions that boosted its profile as an arts destination. Featuring pottery, fine arts, textiles, and furniture from Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright, and other designers, the Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement (MAACM) became the first ever museum dedicated to this art movement when it opened in September. The immersive Fairgrounds St. Pete celebrates weird and wacky Florida experiences with exhibits that merge technology and art.
We’d be remiss to leave out the city’s stellar collection of glass art, most notably the permanent, larger-than-life Dale Chihuly sculptures located inside the Chihuly Collection downtown. Admission includes entrance to the connected Morean Arts Center galleries, and you can explore even more contemporary glass artists at the Imagine Museum just one mile away.
Where to stay: Enjoy the retro vibe at the Art Deco Avalon Hotel, located in the heart of downtown.
Tucson, Arizona
Brimming with performing arts theaters, contemporary galleries, museums, and music festivals, Tucson delivers the perfect art-filled desert getaway. Restored Art Deco theaters like the Rialto and Fox Tucson theaters offer a variety of opportunities to experience local and national entertainers, movies, comedy shows, and performances from Broadway stars like Kristen Chenoweth. Both theaters will also host musicians during the Tucson Jazz Festival in January 2022.
Native American textiles and paintings are on display at the Tucson Desert Art Museum and the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block. The University of Arizona Museum of Art features a mix of classical and contemporary European and American art, with an impressive Renaissance collection. The museum recently recovered a Willem de Kooning painting, Woman-Ochre, which was stolen in 1985; look for it to re-enter the museum’s collection sometime this year.
Art lovers who want to stay active on their trip can view the city’s vibrant murals on two wheels. Tucson Bike Tours’ mural tour covers seven miles while taking in the colorful Southwest scenes depicted in various neighborhoods.
Where to stay: A stylishly reinvented motor lodge, the Downtown Clifton Hotel Tucson, offers easy access to restaurants and attractions.