University Museums Are Underrated Places to See Art, Often for Free. Here Are 10 of the Best in the U.S.

This article was originally published in 2024 and most recently updated on August 26, 2026, with current information.

If autumn has you thinking about school days but you’ve long since graduated, consider visiting a university art museum. These extensive art collections are often housed in strikingly modern buildings designed by powerhouse architects like the late Zaha Hadid. And most have free admission. In no particular order, these are 10 of our favorite university art museums for a dose of culture and a dash of campus-life nostalgia.

1. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota

One look and you know who designed this curvy, shiny building: the inimitable Frank Gehry. It opened along the Mississippi River in 1993 and is among the dozen-plus Gehry-designed buildings you can visit in the USA and overseas; the late acclaimed architect also handled its expansion in 2011, which nearly doubled gallery space. The Weisman Art Museum collection’s strong points are American Art, including ceramics, and Korean furniture and decorative objects.

Exhibitions not to miss

Tiffany Chung: Indelible Traces (September 19 through December 6) and ‘Merciless': Indigenous Lands Since 1776 (September 26 through May 23, 2027), which takes its title from the phrase “merciless Indian Savages” in the Declaration of Independence.

2. Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University Bloomington

Photos by Shanti Knight, Indiana University

Opened in 1982, this modernist building was also designed by I.M. Pei and, as in his other art museum work, there’s a focus on geometry. The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art’s collection started in 1941 and with some 47,000 items, it has since grown to become one of the largest in a U.S. university museum.

Seven galleries span Indigenous art of the Americas, photography, contemporary art, and more. Thanks to a donation by philanthropists Lois and Sidney Eskenazi of $15 million dollars and nearly 100 works of art, the museum underwent a full renovation in 2019.

Exhibitions not to miss

Samuel Levi Jones: An Archaeology of Knowledge features abstract assemblages from books (September 12 through February 14, 2027) and The Hungarian Avant-Garde marks the 55th anniversary of a groundbreaking exhibit of Cold War artworks (December 12 through May 23, 2027).

3. MSU Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University

Photo by EQRoy/Shutterstock

Michigan State University’s BAM: by any name, it’s a bold building, designed by Zara Hadid, one of only four U.S. buildings by the visionary architect. As its angular steel exterior suggests, the focus here is on contemporary art. Recent acquisitions span various media: video, inkjet prints on aluminum, vintage gelatin silver prints, plus a range of works by Hadid (silver jewelry and larger designs in marble and Cristalflex and Lentiflex).

If the Broad name sounds familiar, Edythe and Eli are indeed the same pair behind Los Angeles’s Broad Museum, which is not affiliated with a university.

Exhibitions not to miss

Ongoing exhibits include Ancient After Hours: Greek and Roman Party Culture (500 B.C.E.–500 C.E, put together by 15 first-year students (through May 8, 2027). Camille Henrot’s Grosse Fatigue, an intense 13-minute video the artist made while in residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. continues to May 23, 2027.

Related: 9 Must-Visit Museums in Los Angeles

4. Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University

Even art lovers can only absorb so much at one time before “museum fatigue” sets in. That’s not an issue in the small, glass-clad Block Museum of Art’s three galleries. Dirk Lohan, who studied architecture with his grandfather Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, designed the building, which opened in 1980.

The collection’s highlights include documentary photos of the Midwest (1930s–1970s), Chicago-based printmakers (1930s–1940s), and South African township prints (1980–1990s). The Block also has a 148-seat auditorium screening free movies.

Exhibition not to miss

Picturing the Modern Metropolis: Prints and Photographs from The Block’s Collection showcases 100 photos and prints primarily from the 20th century, by artists such as Vivian Maier, Ed Ruscha, and Yuichi Idaka (September 9 through December 6, 2026). Next year brings Pasados Presentes, a bilingual English Spanish exhibition that pairs colonial paintings of the Spanish Americas with works by artists from across the Americas and the Philippines (February 3 through June 6, 2027).

5. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University

Photo by David O. Brown/Johnson Museum

This vertical museum, an I.M. Pei & Partners design, opened in 1973 at this Ivy League university. Its seven stories of buff-colored concrete have big vertical and horizontal windows overlooking Cayuga Lake, plus an open deck on its fifth floor. The Johnson Museum’s collection of 40,000 works shines in diverse areas, including photography, modern art, and African textiles and sculpture. A multi-award-winning wing added in 2011 houses Asian art and has a Japanese garden. Three floors display part of the permanent collection.

Exhibitions not to miss

The ongoing site-specific installation Cosmos, by Leo Villareal, is 12,000 LED lights on the ceiling of the open air Mallin Sculpture Court in honor of the late Cornell astronomy professor Carl Sagan. Anastasia Samoylova: Atlantic Coast takes a photographic journey along the East Coast (September 12 through December 20, 2026).

Related: A Pilgrimage to the Birthplace of the Modern Women’s Rights Movement

6. Princeton University Art Museum

Courtesy of Princeton University Art Museum

The late 19th-century Princeton University Art Museum opened a new building composed of nine connected pavilions in late 2025. Plan a weekend trip to Princeton to explore the museum’s vast, international collection, which is especially strong in Greek and Roman antiquities, Chinese and Japanese art, West and Central African sculpture, and photography.

Exhibitions not to miss

What Photographs Look Like (through December 6, 2026); among those upcoming is Basquiat, the Blue Ribbon Paintings, and the Art of Reproduction (October 4 through January 31, 2027).

7. Carlos Museum, Emory University

Although Emory’s collection began in 1876, the current museum is a 1993 renovation and expansion of the old law school building, with a distinctive postmodern facade by architect Michael Graves. The Michael C. Carlos Museum boasts the Southeast’s biggest collection of ancient art, from Egypt to the ancient Americas. In addition, one gallery is devoted to works of art on paper, which includes modern works.

Exhibitions not to miss

Ongoing to November 1 is Compassion: What Moves You?, which features works by Japanese artists and by international students. Upcoming is Anamnesis: Works by Sergio Suárez (September 19 through January 24, 2027).

8. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas Austin

Photo by Faina Gurevich/Shutterstock

Fittingly for Texas, this is a big museum with a collection of 22,000 pieces, mainly contemporary American and Latin American art and Italian Renaissance and baroque paintings.

Opened in 1963, the Blanton Museum of Art has evolved to include additions of Snøhetta-designed shades outdoors and the unique artwork/freestanding building by artist Ellsworth Kelly, which opened in 2015. Kelly’s only building is a gem, a refuge for quiet contemplation with colored glass windows and black and white marble panels. Just in time for the 2026 school year to start is the opening of the museum’s new eatery, Café Fleurs de Nuit.

Exhibitions not to miss

A noteworthy exhibit ending soon: Art in Every Corner: The Works Progress Administration (through September 27). Upcoming: Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley, with biomorphic sculptures in various media (bronze, porcelain, glass) (September 27 through January 17, 2027).

9. Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University

Photo by Skanska, courtesy of Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

Designed by Rafael Viñoly, who also handled the renovation/expansion of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum of Art opened in 2005. In this blocky modern building, the emphasis is on contemporary art, particularly by historically underrepresented artists. The Collection Galleries display art from the U.S., the Andes, the African continent, and medieval Europe.

Exhibitions not to miss

Shows such as Tall Tales and Short Stories: Depictions of the American Experience (through December 31, 2026) are related to America 250. Other appealing exhibitions include Contemporary British Art (through July 4, 2027), Art of the Andes (to May 30, 2027), and Turn the Volume Up! (August 27 through July 11, 2027), with a focus on civic action to foster change.

10. Anderson Collection, Stanford University

Photo by Andrew Brodhead

The small but spacious Anderson Collection at Stanford University is a showcase for modern and contemporary American art. Richard Olcott designed the two-story building; a wide central stairway leads to the high-ceilinged top floor, where most of the art is displayed. The whole interior is airy.

Art from the Anderson’s permanent collection usually has 90 to 100 works, making it easy to see everything, including work by big names (Nick Cave, Willem de Kooning) as well as others less well-known, such as Deborah Butterfield, Eamon Ore-Giron, and Elizabeth Murray, noted for her unusually shaped paintings.

Next door, the older, neo-classical Cantor Arts Center features a larger collection (also free to visit). Stroll through the outdoor Rodin Sculpture Garden and check out Andy Goldsworthy’s Stone River across the street.

Exhibition not to miss

Patty Chang: surfacing (September 17 through February 8, 2027) is the culmination of Chang’s year-long residency at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station. Her work incorporates archaeological remains, fish specimens, and archival materials about Chinese fisher families.