North Carolina Museum of Art

The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh is one of the Southeast's premier art institutions, housing a permanent collection spanning 5,000 years of human creativity across 40 galleries. Founded in 1947, it was among the first museums in the United States to receive a state legislative appropriation for purchasing art. A major expansion opened in 2010 designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners with north-facing clerestory galleries specifically engineered for art viewing. The collection encompasses ancient Egyptian works, classical Greek and Roman artifacts, European old masters including Rubens and Raphael, Baroque-era religious art, and significant American paintings from the colonial period through the 20th century. Rotating special exhibitions bring major traveling shows from national and international institutions. The museum park — 164 acres of outdoor land surrounding the building — is free to enter and features monumental sculptures integrated into woodland trails, making it one of the largest outdoor museum parks in the country. Visitors walk, jog, and cycle past works by artists including Thomas Sayre and Patrick Dougherty. Free admission to the permanent galleries distinguishes the museum from many similarly scaled institutions. Friday evenings from 6–9pm the museum park hosts Art in Bloom, Cinema Under the Stars, and other seasonal programming that draws large community audiences.