I thoroughly enjoy museums, more specifically Art museums and I was taking inventory of some of the world class institution I have had the privilege to visit over the years.
Here is a list of the ones I have visited, in order, as best as I could recall.
- Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland
- Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK
- Birmingham Museum of Art, UK
- Toledo Museum of Art Museum
- Columbus Museum of Art
- Louvre, France
- Palace of Versailles, France
- Cincinnati Art Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- North Carolina Museum of Art
- Detroit Institute of Arts
- Seattle Art Museum
- Center on Contemporary Art Seattle
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Portland Museum of Art
- Vatican Museum, Italy
- St. Mark’s Museum, Italy
- Musée d'Orsay, France
I am fully aware of the ways that many of these institutions can be problematic, and that many pieces on display or in storage represent stolen pieces of cultures from all across the globe. For example:
Almost 1,000 bronzes were taken after Benin City, in present-day Nigeria, was occupied by imperial troops in 1897, according to the British Museum. About 900 of those artefacts are housed in museums and collections around the world, including the British Museum.
This is just one example, there are so many more. The consistent usage of the word provenance in the western art world is not possible without a deep sense of irony.
Last update: June 8th, 2023
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