The goop List: 26 Exceptional Museums and Galleries

The latest installment of The goop List, our bucket-list travel series, is a love letter to museums and galleries around the world.

The 26 destinations included here—curated by Gwyneth and her friends and peers—represent the best of the best. Some are venerable institutions. A few are what we consider to be the new vanguard. All of them have the power to invoke that intangible spirit of hope and clarity that only exceptional art can, transforming us as we stand in their spaces.

The Broad

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad’s museum put Downtown Los Angeles on the map as a new American arts capital. When it opened in 2015, lines stretched down the block for months. Part of that enthusiasm was due to the museum’s free admission, which reflects its commitment to making contemporary art accessible to the widest possible audience.

And LA’s diversity is indeed on full display in the galleries, alongside blockbuster shows of major contemporary artists like Mickalene Thomas, Roy Lichtenstein, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. You may still have to wait in line to step inside one of Yayoi Kusama’s twinkling Infinity Mirror Rooms, but it’s worth it. The upcoming exhibition Joseph Beuys: In Defense of Nature will examine the legacy of the German artist’s environmental advocacy and includes a reforestation initiative in nearby Elysian Park.

On your way out via the twisting staircase, don’t miss a glimpse into the vast storage vault at the heart of the building—it houses the rest of the Broad’s collection of 2,000 artworks. And more of those are soon to go on view: The museum recently announced a major expansion scheduled for completion in 2028—just in time for the city’s hosting of the Summer Olympics.

Glenstone

POTOMAC, MARYLAND

Emily and Mitch Rales’s collection of post–World War II artworks is the greatest private collection of American and European contemporary art in the US—one that reflects the couple’s personal vision, with some names more predictable (Calder, Rothko, Pollock) than others (Charles Ray, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Gober).

Opened as a single building in 2006 and then lavishly expanded by architect Thomas Phifer in 2018, it’s now sprawled across an impossibly bucolic 300 acres outside Washington, DC. The serene winding paths take you past a Jeff Koons floral sculpture that changes with the seasons, a handful of Richard Serras, and an absorbing sound sculpture by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. In the Pavilions building (temporarily closed for renovations through early 2025), the 11 naturally lit galleries are dedicated to single-artist installations; don’t miss Michael Heizer’s commissioned installation Collapse, a cluster of massive steel beams that appear to have fallen haphazardly into a deep pit.

Part of Glenstone’s charm is its meditative and hidden-gem quality. Admission is free, but reservations are required, and they cap the number of daily visitors. That, coupled with a ban on photography inside the museum, means you’ll encounter fewer people (and phones) than you might expect.

Matthew Marks Gallery

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, AND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Pioneering gallerist Matthew Marks organized his first show of Picasso prints at age 20. In 1991 the New York native opened his gallery uptown, but his move to Chelsea in 1994 heralded a new focal point of the city’s art scene. There he proceeded to build what is today a stellar roster of 34 artists across generations and mediums, among them Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Simone Leigh, Vija Celmins, Charles Ray, and Peter Fischli and David Weiss. The gallery has three locations in Chelsea and two in Los Angeles, presenting some 15 exhibitions annually, many accompanied by original publications.

The Menil Collection

HOUSTON, TEXAS

Housed in a 30-acre free-admission institution in the heart of Houston, the collection of Parisian émigrés Dominique and John de Menil reflects their belief in the spiritual power of art. Their Houston home was filled with art and, often, artists, from Magritte to Warhol and Cartier-Bresson, and this mid-century salon formed the foundation of their eventual museum.

Selections from their 20,000-piece-strong collection, which includes one of the most extensive holdings of Surrealist works in the world, are thoughtfully chosen and rotated regularly in the main Renzo Piano–designed modernist gallery building. (Don’t miss the single-room, object-packed cabinet of curiosities, or Wunderkammer, based on similar displays that inspired the Surrealists.) Four additional museum buildings surround the main building, including a gallery devoted to and inspired by Cy Twombly’s large calligraphy works, a hall featuring a site-specific installation by Dan Flavin, and a drawing institute. Upcoming exhibitions include the pioneering abstract painter Joe Overstreet and the first major US survey of British artist Tacita Dean.

The Menils also founded the neighboring Rothko Chapel, a sanctuary-like space for contemplation created by Rothko himself. It closed this year, indefinitely, after July’s Hurricane Beryl damaged it beyond repair.

The Uffizi

FLORENCE, ITALY

A visit to the masterpiece-packed Uffizi Gallery is a must in Florence. Housed in a Giorgio Vasari–designed 16th-century building that once served as the Medici family’s offices (Uffizi), it’s renowned for its collections of ancient sculptures and paintings from the Middle Ages on. And it’s stacked with the finest collection of Italian paintings in the world.

One single floor takes visitors through a magnificent sweep of Renaissance art history, featuring exquisite works by Michelangelo, Giotto, Raphael, and many more. Lining the corridors are ancient Roman and Greek statues and busts from the Medicis’ invaluable collection that inspired the Renaissance masters (see Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus). It’s one of the most famous museums in the world—and well worth braving the substantial crowds for. Make a reservation in advance.

Musée Rodin

PARIS, FRANCE

A charming oasis in the heart of Paris, this museum is set in a spacious 18th-century rococo mansion where Auguste Rodin lived near the end of his life—and which he chose as the site to display his works and collection. Inside, a selection of the French sculptor’s creations—including clay sketches, plaster casts, and some of his greatest sculptures, like the famously sensual white marble The Kiss—show his artistic process and evolution. You’ll find The Thinker facing The Gates of Hell and other large-scale bronze works in the property’s manicured gardens, which lend a perfect backdrop of trees and flowers no matter the season.

Open since 1919, the site has the distinction of being the only fully self-funded national museum in France, thanks to the artist’s donation to the French state of his original molds and models and the associated intellectual property rights.

MoMA

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Since its founding in 1929, MoMA has been the world’s foremost institution for modern and contemporary art, with 200,000 works from around the world spanning the last 150 years. Innovative European painting and sculpture from the 1880s appear alongside today’s cutting-edge film, design, and performance art. Some highlights of its unparalleled collection: Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, and Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. Upcoming shows include an exploration of Robert Frank’s career following his landmark 1958 photo book, The Americans, and a survey of German contemporary artist Thomas Schütte.

Although two major expansions over the past 20 years have exponentially grown its midtown Manhattan footprint, MoMA can still feel as busy as an airport at peak times—a testament to its compelling presentations that continue to draw locals and tourists alike. The Museum Store and neighboring Design Store are destinations in themselves, stocked with artfully designed souvenirs and gifts.

The Whitney

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

The Whitney has the world’s best collection of 20th-century American art. Founded by sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1931, it was the first museum dedicated to the work of living American artists. And today its flagship exhibition, the Biennial, captures the pulse of what’s happening across the American vanguard. Collection highlights include its unparalleled holdings of Edward Hopper and Alexander Calder’s Circus, a delightful troupe of miniature circus figures made of wire and other everyday materials. Two upcoming shows of note: the first large-scale museum exhibition of visionary choreographer Alvin Ailey and a major survey of paintings by Amy Sherald.

Since 2015, the Whitney has been situated in the Meatpacking District, between the High Line and the Hudson River, in a vast Renzo Piano–designed building. Its terraces are perfect for taking a breather from the galleries and admiring Manhattan views in all directions.

White Cube

LONDON, ENGLAND; HONG KONG; PARIS; NEW YORK, NEW YORK; AND SEOUL, KOREA

Established in 1993 by dealer Jay Jopling in a small central London room, White Cube helped launch the careers of Young British Artists Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Sarah Lucas in the 1990s. In its first decade, no artist was shown more than once—a testament to the breadth of its program, which featured the first UK exhibitions of Julie Mehretu, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Luc Tuymans. Today it has a roster of more than 60 artists, including Howardena Pindell, Bruce Nauman, and Anselm Kiefer.

In recent years, it has rapidly grown to six locations on three continents. The Bermondsey flagship, a former warehouse and Europe’s largest commercial gallery space, will soon host a major show of Jeff Wall’s works from his past three decades with the gallery.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

VENICE, ITALY

Peggy Guggenheim was a New York heiress who palled around Europe with Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett, and Truman Capote; ran galleries in London and New York; and assembled a staggering collection over the course of her lifetime. This unfinished 18th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal was her home for her final 30 years—and now it holds one of Europe’s best collections of art from the first half of the 20th century,

You’ll find gem after gem of Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism, many by artists Guggenheim knew personally: Picasso, Calder, Dalí, Brancusi. Although it’s Venice’s second-most-visited museum (after the Doge’s Palace), the place still retains the intimacy of being someone’s home. Scattered furniture helps you envision it as the residence it was, and you’re almost as close to the works as Guggenheim’s guests would have been.

Fondazione Prada (Milan)

MILAN, ITALY

Fashion designer Miuccia Prada and her husband, former Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli, established Fondazione Prada in 1993 as a cultural organization dedicated to art, cinema, and philosophy. Designed by Rem Koolhaas’s firm, OMA, the museum opened in 2015 in a century-old former gin distillery compound in Milan’s southern outskirts. One of the seven buildings—known as the Haunted House and containing permanent installations by Robert Gober and Louise Bourgeois—is clad in eye-catching 24-karat gold leaf.

The Fondazione is known for its multidisciplinary programming and thought-provoking, unexpected displays as well as a commitment to film. Permanent installations include Thomas Demand’s painstaking re-creation of a Spanish grotto in cardboard and the actual studio where director Jean-Luc Godard worked on postproduction for his 2018 feature The Image Book. The Wes Anderson–designed Bar Luce, which evokes the atmosphere of a typical mid-century Milanese caffè, is worth a stop on its own.

Tate Modern

LONDON, ENGLAND

Opened in 2000 in a cavernous former power station on London’s South Bank, the industrial-feeling Tate Modern houses some of the world’s most important modern and contemporary artworks. All the big names are here—Picasso, Dalí, Warhol, Sherman, Duchamp, Pollock—arranged by theme instead of chronology. Mark Rothko’s somber Seagram Murals, beautifully displayed in a dark, contemplative gallery, are a must-see. Next year will see shows highlighting the boundary-pushing artist Leigh Bowery and the immersive fabric installations of Do Ho Suh.

Art Institute of Chicago

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Art aficionados know The Art Institute of Chicago has nearly as many masterpieces as the Met or the Louvre—but without the thronging crowds: Van Gogh, Picasso, O’Keeffe, Magritte, Nighthawks, American Gothic, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, to name but a few.

The highly detailed and opulent Thorne Miniature Rooms—depicting imagined rooms across locales and periods, from contemporary China to Colonial Massachusetts—are a favorite of many. Up next is Panafrica, a series of exhibitions exploring ideas of freedom, solidarity, and place from artists throughout Africa and the African diaspora.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

HUMLEBAEK, DENMARK

With stunning panoramic views from the shore of the Øresund Sound outside Copenhagen, this former 19th-century country house is one of the world’s most pleasant art properties, with open lawns, shady woods, Japanese-inspired architecture, and a picturesque sculpture garden. (It takes its name from the building’s first owner, who married three women, all named Louise.) Opened in 1958, it’s a masterpiece of Danish modernist architecture.

The programming rivals the setting, with a focus on art from 1945 to today, including significant holdings of Alberto Giacometti, Philip Guston, Louise Bourgeois, and David Hockney. Last year saw an extensive presentation of the feminist activist art collective Pussy Riot, and up next will be a thematic show about the art and science of the ocean. Yayoi Kusama’s 2008 installation Gleaming Lights of the Souls is one of the collection’s most beloved pieces: Lucky visitors stand on a platform in a four-by-four-meter space covered with mirrors, hundreds of colorful pulsing lights, and a reflecting-pool floor.

Centre Pompidou

PARIS, FRANCE

This architectural landmark courted controversy when it was first unveiled in 1977 with primary-colored pipes on proud display on the exterior, instead of tucked away. But it’s since been embraced as the city’s foremost modern and contemporary art museum, with top-quality exhibitions and a collection including masterworks by Duchamp, Kahlo, Chagall, Matisse, Mondrian, and Brancusi.

Be sure to go before it closes in summer of 2025 for a major five-year renovation—prior to that it will host a significant survey of Surrealism and a show about the new generation of Chinese artists. Don’t miss the panoramic view of Paris from the top of the escalator, on the roof.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

The Met is a landmark of New York culture. You probably already know its imposing Gothic Revival facade and iconic staircase at a glance, and the Central Park institution boasts groundbreaking, critically acclaimed exhibitions and an extensive permanent collection spanning 5,000 years of history, from ancient artifacts to photography and fashion design.

Yes, the Great Hall can sometimes feel as busy as a train terminal, but the Met is an unparalleled American treasure. Its shows often include works rarely on view anywhere and also offer vital context. The audio guide and museum app provide valuable insights, and the 2,000-year-old Egyptian Temple of Dendur, the only complete one in the Western Hemisphere, never fails to awe. The 20-foot Christmas tree in the majestic Medieval Sculpture Hall is a beloved holiday tradition.

Kapp Kapp

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Founded by twin brothers Sam and Daniel Kapp in early 2019 in Philadelphia, the gallery is known for cultivating visionary young artists like Sydney Vernon and Louis Osmosis and championing queer artists who have made work for many years, like noted photographer Stanley Stellar and Philadelphia painter Gilbert Lewis.

Both Kapps got their starts in prominent New York galleries: Sam worked for Dominique Lévy Gallery (and eventually Lévy Gorvy), while Daniel worked in communications for Marian Goodman Gallery. Their gallery expanded to Manhattan on the cusp of the pandemic in 2020 and in 2022 moved to 86 Walker Street in Tribeca—a space five times bigger than the last.

Salon 94

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Salon 94’s founder, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, has been showcasing compelling projects in domestic settings for decades. But in 2021, her gallery opened in a beautifully restored historic townhouse on the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 89th Street. And it’s worth a visit for the setting alone: You enter the space through a grand marble porte-cochère, which really sets a tone—as do the dramatic 14-foot ceilings. Highlights this year included the show Tableaux Éclatés (“burst paintings”) from Niki de Saint Phalle and the exhibition Desert + Coast: Seven Elder Aboriginal Painters, which curated works from senior Aboriginal artists across Australia.

Night Gallery

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Founded in 2010 by artist Davida Nemeroff, LA mainstay Night Gallery started as a strip mall storefront in Lincoln Heights, with openings between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Today the gallery keeps regular business hours, but that rebellious spirit persists. In 2013 it moved to the downtown Arts District and in 2022 expanded to a cavernous neighboring space that doubled its footprint and broadened its opportunities for sculpture and installation. In the meantime, The New York Times dubbed it “arguably the epicenter of the underground art world in Los Angeles.” Its roster of artists—many of whom Nemeroff met while doing her own MFA at Columbia University—includes Samara Golden, Wanda Koop, and Tomashi Jackson.

Sadie Coles HQ

LONDON, ENGLAND

Sadies Coles opened her influential gallery in London’s West End in 1997—and has since shaped the trajectory of British contemporary art. Coles was an early supporter of the Young British Artists and today represents about 50 international artists, including Sarah Lucas, Matthew Barney, and Martine Syms. In addition to thematic shows (on topics like thrones, lamps, and women and domestic architecture), her gallery often mounts off-site projects and frequently plays host to emerging galleries, curatorial projects, and arts programs. It now occupies three spaces in London, in Soho, Mayfair, and St. James.

Nicola Vassell

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

This three-year-old gallery opened its doors in the depths of the pandemic, at a time when many parts of society, including the art world, were reappraising the status quo. As one of the few Black-woman-owned galleries in Chelsea, it’s committed to widening the lens of the history and future of art, with a focus on developing an intergenerational, cross-disciplinary program of international artists and thinkers. Vassell was previously a director of both the Pace and Deitch Projects galleries in Manhattan and an advisor to Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys (whose world-class holdings were showcased in a Brooklyn Museum exhibition this year). Her roster of artists includes Ming Smith, Moses Sumney, Alvaro Barrington, and many who work across disciplines.

David Zwirner

NEW YORK, NEW YORK; LONDON, ENGLAND; LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA; PARIS, FRANCE; HONG KONG

Since its founding in New York in 1993, David Zwirner has become one of the largest and most powerful galleries in the world. It represents more than 70 artists and estates—including powerhouses like Yayoi Kusama, Wolfgang Tillmans, Kerry James Marshall, and Gerhard Richter.

In 2013, it opened a five-story poured-concrete exhibition space in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, where it has hosted museum-caliber blockbuster exhibitions. A new LA flagship just debuted in gallery-dense Melrose Hill in May, with a custom billboard by legendary cartoonist R. Crumb and a terrace with a prime view of the Hollywood sign.

52 Walker

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

This three-year-old Tribeca gallery, named for its address, is an offshoot of David Zwirner that stands apart from traditional commercial galleries. Its ambitious, unexpected exhibitions run for longer, enabling visitors to engage deeply with the works and programming. And while the works shown are for sale, the gallery does not represent the exhibiting artists. (Recent shows featured Arthur Jafa, Cauleen Smith, and Diamond Stingily.) It’s programmed and led by Ebony L. Haynes, who focuses on conceptual and research-based artists from a range of backgrounds and stages in their careers. The gallery also produces a publication, Clarion, that highlights scholarship and research on the exhibiting artists, and in 2022 it launched a library of both circulating books and noncirculating reference books.

Hannah Hoffman

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

The daughter of prominent art collectors in Dallas, Hannah Hoffman grew up surrounded by contemporary masterworks. After a stint in New York at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, she struck out on her own in 2013 to fill what she saw as a gap in the LA art scene. With a gallery located in a historic MacArthur Park property, Hoffman represents artists with a particular focus on feminist and conceptual practices. She has become known for raising the profiles of both historically important artists and cutting-edge contemporary ones, including Puppies Puppies (whose work was featured at the New Museum and the Venice Biennale this year), Tony Cokes, and Paul Thek.

Hauser & Wirth

LOCATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED KINGDOM, SWITZERLAND, SPAIN, FRANCE, MONACO, HONG KONG

Founded in 1992 in Zurich by husband and wife Iwan and Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser (Manuela’s mother), Hauser & Wirth is a titan of the gallery world. It counts 21 locations around the globe, including four in New York and two in LA, but some are farther afield than the typical art capitals, like Somerset, England, and Menorca, Spain. And its outposts tend to attract a much wider range of visitors than other mega galleries: For example, its massive complex in LA’s Arts District neighborhood is a true destination, boasting a garden (with chickens), an absorbing art bookstore, and a great restaurant, Manuela. Today the gallery represents more than 90 artists and estates, including stars like Mark Bradford, Jenny Holzer, Henry Taylor, and Cindy Sherman.

Fondation Louis Vuitton

PARIS, FRANCE

LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault opened Fondation Louis Vuitton to the public in 2014, and it continues to draw crowds despite being set in a far corner of the 16th Arrondissement. One of Paris’s few privately owned and funded art spaces, the Fondation spares no expense in organizing two temporary exhibitions each year, one of modern art and one of contemporary art. This year saw shows on Matisse’s The Red Studio and Ellsworth Kelly’s shapes and colors; next year will bring one on Pop Art legend Tom Wesselmann and surely much more to herald the museum’s 10th anniversary.

Permanently installed are an immersive golden Olafur Eliasson that’s akin to walking through a kaleidoscope and Ellsworth Kelly’s vibrantly colored commission throughout the auditorium. The spectacular building alone is worth the trip: Frank Gehry designed it as a transparent cloud at the edge of the Jardin d’Acclimatation in the Bois de Boulogne, composed of grand arching glass sails enveloping a sculptural white concrete building dubbed the iceberg.