11 Must-Follow Museums on Instagram

For the museum visitor in need a daily digital dose of art, or for those who are craving a scroll full of #artinspo, we’ve curated the best of virtual curation. These museums know how to mimic the experience of gallery gazing right from their Instagram feeds. Elevate your midday social media breaks from mundane to brilliantly inspiring.

MONA

Photo courtesy of MONA via Instagram

The Museum of Old and New Art, located in Hobart, Australia, is a relatively new establishment having opened its doors 5 years ago in 2011. Their feed highlights a sleek, abstract, and sometimes ominous aesthetic through their unforgettable mix of exhibit images and teaser videos. A quick scroll feels like being in a critically-acclaimed film noir movie.

Chihuly Garden and Glass

Photo courtesy of Chihuly Garden and Glass via Instagram

Located in Seattle, Washington, this museum’s feed feels more like a stroll through a sci-fi version of Hawaii with its tropical-colored flowers growing along translucent ceilings and organically-shaped structures of glass blooming from the gardens. Their images make us a feel a bit like we’re on a Willy Wonka boat ride, minus all the candy.

Belvedere Museum

Photo courtesy of Belvedere Museum via Instagram

Belvedere’s Instagram team does a wonderful job of showing us just enough to make us want to schedule an in-person visit thanks to a perfect balance of sneak peeks of their crisp exhibits and artfully-crafted images of their own enthralled and happy visitors, all against a backdrop of the incredible architectural details of their museum.

Asian Art Museum

Photo courtesy of Asian Art Museum via Instagram

Proud to be the largest museum in the West (in San Fran, to be exact) dedicated to Asian art, the Asian Art museum expertly crafts their images to include clean, elegant style and historical visuals. Bonus: some images are also educational, like the “how to make dongpo rou,” a historical braised pork belly dish that inspired a piece found in their art exhibits.

YBCA

Photo courtesy of YBCA via Instagram

The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco is all about art that makes a difference or carries a sociopolitical impact. Adding them to your feed will inspire you a little differently than the other museums on this list; your creative juices will pack more of a progressive punch.

New Museum

Photo courtesy of New Museum via Instagram

Dedicated primarily to new, contemporary art, this Manhattan-based museum wants its followers to see more than just the boundary-bending art they exhibit. They also showcase the people — from artists to staff members — who make the New Museum such a uniquely human experience.

Эрмитаж – Hermitage Museum

Photo courtesy of Hermitage Museum via Instagram

If a visit to the Hermitage Museum is the next best thing to traveling the world, then browsing through their Instagram is the third best. A curated collection of exhibit pictures that could be art themselves, Hermitage’s feed always leaves us scrolling for more. Also, museum cats make frequent appearances.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Photo courtesy of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum via Instagram

We’re not sure if it’s the fact that the Gardner Museum stands among the cultural gems of our hometown of Boston, or if it’s the glimpses of the courtyard we get on their feed, but looking at their Instagram has us dreaming of drinking tea in a Venetian palazzo while listening to Bach.

de Young Museum

Photo courtesy of de Young via Instagram

The de Young has mastered the art of storytelling by visually demonstrating an artist’s mission or presenting a new view on an old favorite. Bonus: the San Francisco museum’s feed is currently packed with Pop art gold, bolstered by the vibrant new exhibition of works by Californian artist Ed Ruscha.

Aspen Art Museum

Photo courtesy of Aspen Art Museum via Instagram

Take a trip around the contemporary art world without leaving the comfort of your preferred Instagram scrolling location thanks to Aspen Art Museum’s lively feed.

The Frick Collection

Photo courtesy of The Frick Collection via Instagram

Home of “one of the most important collections of Western fine art in the world,” we think The Frick Collection also has one of the finest Instagram feeds – offering a new perspective on fine and decorative art of the 18th and 19th centuries, and frequent spotlights on singular objects from the Frick’s extensive collection.

Looking to fill your day with more inspiring Instagram captures from museums and art fairs around the globe? See what Invaluable’s editors are posting with #InOnTheGo.