So you love art? Here at City Illustrated, we do too and we are always swapping stories about where is the best travel destination to visit if you love art. I’d like to say that we toiled over this list and argued into the night for our five top travel destinations for artists, but in reality, it wasn’t difficult to come up with this unequivocal list. Let us know if you agree in the comments!
Florence, Italy
It’s hard to compete with the cultural heavyweight that is Florence. The largest city in the region of Tuscany, Italy, Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance. Due to this, Florence is awash with priceless Renaissance art, dozens of galleries, and impressive architecture. Not only will Florence please art lovers, but history buffs will be in heaven here too.
The city is home to world famous artworks such as; Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Venus de Milo. If you are only in Florence for a short time, we recommend the Uffizi gallery and Galeria dell’Accademia.
Rome, Italy
As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and it’s true that you could visit this spectacular city time and time again and still see something new. I visited Rome for the first time about five years ago, and for an avid museum and gallery visitor, I didn’t feel the need to leave the streets for my art fix. The city is awash with beautiful architecture, monuments, and statues. I have yet to visit another city whose streets are as steeped in history and art.
Venice, Italy
Have you really lived unless you’ve visited Venice? Not if you’re a lover of the arts anyway. I always say that Venice is like Disneyland for adults who love to travel. There isn’t another city like it in the world. There’s even a specific style of Venetian painting characterized by rich colours and patterns, and effects of light, and strongly influenced by the Byzantines. Every year the city holds the Biennale (aka International Exhibition of Art of the City of Venice) which welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world.
Unfortunately, Venice has long been suffering with overcrowding, so we recommend visiting the city in off-season if you can.
Barcelona, Spain
I couldn’t leave Barcelona off this list. It’s one of the best cities for street art and the city features several Gaudi examples of architecture which leaves their large tourists numbers raptured when they find them dotted around the city. So captivating are Gaudi’s architectural feats, that the man himself was killed while admiring one of his own designs.
There are several great galleries to visit in Barcelona, but if you aren’t there long, we recommend visiting Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.
Madrid, Spain
I’ve been to this wonderfully underrated city twice. Many people don’t know that Madrid has what’s called the Golden Triangle of Art. It’s referred to the triangle because of three world-class art galleries; Museo Del Prado (Prado Museum), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Reina Sofía National Art Centre), and Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum). The museums feature some of the Spain and Europe’s most glorious masterpieces. We highly recommend taking the time to visit them all, but don’t expect to get through them in a day or two, these three museums are all colossal.
