100 art-world Instagram accounts to follow right now: Museums and Galleries

Located in a small town about 20 miles north of Copenhagen, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art houses an enviable collection of post-war works in a striking example of mid-century Danish architecture. The glass corridors that connect the galleries embrace the scenic location of the museum, which is listed in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. The Instagram account shares works from the collection and exhibitions, as well as photographs uploaded by visitors using its handle.

Nearly every day, this Oxford institution shares bite-size art-history lessons, focusing on one object from a world-renowned collection that spans 5,000 years of culture. Expect everything from Islamic metalwork and ancient Greek vases to Rembrandt etchings and paintings by contemporary artists such as Flora Yukhnovich.

Norway’s newest museum, Kunstsilo — housed in a former grain silo in Kristiansand — is home to the Tangen Collection, perhaps the world’s most important collection of Nordic modern art. This is a holding of more than 5,000 works by the likes of Lars-Gunnar Nordström, Reidar Aulie and Anna-Eva Bergman. Follow Kunstsilo on Instagram for exhibition updates, museum news and a glimpse inside the landmark building, a prime example of Functionalist architecture. Originally designed in 1935 by two young Norwegian architects, Arne Korsmo and Sverre Aasland, it now has three floors and 3,300 square metres of exhibition space.

Owned by the gambling millionaire David Walsh, Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) also runs a festival called Dark Mofo, and a cluster of luxury cabins on the River Derwent, each named after an influential Australian artist or architect. Its ‘Eternity Membership’ offers lifetime free admission and a space for your ashes in an urn in the gallery. The museum’s Instagram account is unorthodox and entertaining in equal measure.

Zeitz MOCAA opened on Cape Town’s waterfront in 2017 and is the world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The core of its collection is lent by Jochen Zeitz, president and CEO of Harley-Davidson, and includes works by the likes of Chris Ofili, Kehinde Wiley and Julie Mehretu. Instagram is great for catching up on the museum’s busy schedule of public exhibitions, lectures, workshops and webinars.

Funded by Minoru Mori, the real-estate developer who built the surrounding Tokyo district of Roppongi Hills, the Mori Art Museum hosts regular exhibitions encompassing contemporary art, fashion, design, photography and video, and featuring both Japanese and Western artists — the latter having included the likes of Louise Bourgeois and Theaster Gates. On Instagram, the museum regularly uploads curator-led tours of its shows in both English and Japanese.

Istanbul Modern, Turkey’s first museum of modern and contemporary art, reopened to visitors in 2023 after a five-year renovation project. Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, the new 10,500-square-metre building in the historic Karaköy neighbourhood features extensive exhibition spaces, an auditorium and education rooms, as well as a fine-dining waterfront restaurant. Go behind the scenes with the museum’s curators on Instagram as they explore the collection and current exhibitions.

Hong Kong’s M+ museum of visual culture opened on the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula in November 2021 — a quarter of a century after its conception — with a huge exhibition of works by Antony Gormley. It bolstered the artistic reputation of the city, which has since welcomed an influx of blue-chip galleries. The museum posts on Instagram once a day, mostly highlighting future shows, workshops and fellowships.

Encompassing the new National Museum of Qatar, the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, MATHAF: Arab Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and Dadu, Children’s Museum of Qatar — as well as a number of public art commissions and heritage sites — the Qatar Museums’ Instagram provides everything you need to know about culture in the Gulf state. Recent highlights have included an exhibition of work by Ellsworth Kelly and a show exploring the art and influence of French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme.

London’s National Portrait Gallery reopened in 2023 after an extensive three-year renovation project — the first of its kind since the museum moved to its present location in 1896. The transformation saw a comprehensive redisplay of the collection in newly refurbished galleries, as well as the restoration of the Grade I-listed building. On Instagram, the museum spotlights the stories of portraits on display and presents curator-led tours of its exhibitions.

Perched on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego reopened in April 2022 after a $105-million renovation, with the promise of ‘art with a view’. The museum’s impressive holdings total around 4,700 works, but the reinstalled displays now have a particular West Coast perspective, with a focus on women, Chicano and Latino artists. The MCASD also has important works by Christo and Jean-Claude and Robert Irwin: in 1997, the latter cut four holes in one of the museum’s windows for a site-specific work that allows visitors to feel the ocean breeze.

The social media team at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection must be one of the busiest in the industry. Every Monday, they share the story behind a masterpiece in the collection, while in between they upload trivia games, behind-the-scenes films of exhibitions being installed and guided tours of the museum.

In May 2021, after a $195-million renovation, Paris’s former corn exchange opened as a new home for the collection of François Pinault. The building was refashioned into a state-of-the-art gallery complex by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, who inserted a 29-metre-wide concrete cylinder into the middle of the building to a create a new and dynamic space. Some of the artists it has focused on since include Ali Cherri, Charles Ray, Bertrand Lavier, Roni Horn and Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

Founded in 2013 by the fruit-juice heir Eugenio López Alonso, the Museo Jumex has held exhibitions of work by artists including Damien Hirst, Débora Delmar and Carolina Fusilier, as well as several shows dedicated to art addressing the ongoing climate crisis. The building — the first Latin American project by David Chipperfield Architects — was designed to be both a gallery and a laboratory for experimentation and innovation in the arts.

Closed since 2020 for extensive renovations, the Frick Collection in New York is finally set to reopen its doors in April 2025. Visitors to the Gilded Age mansion, housing Henry Clay Frick’s collection of Old Masters and decorative arts, will discover a series of new galleries on the museum’s second floor, open to the public for the first time. Its Instagram feed features a mix of behind-the-scenes videos exploring the redevelopment project and photos of outstanding works in the collection, many of which are accompanied by informative captions.

As one of the most important art-historical institutions in the world, the Courtauld has amassed a stellar collection — most notably Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by artists including Van Gogh, Manet and Cezanne. The gallery reopened in autumn 2021 after a three-year refurbishment, providing its masterpieces with an impressive new home. On Instagram, it serves up mini art-history lectures focused on its collection and exhibitions.

The Museu de Arte de São Paulo’s new 14-storey building is set to open in March 2025, adding around 7,800 square metres to the existing campus. Affectionately named Pietro Maria Bardi, after the first artistic director of MASP, the newly constructed building will feature five new galleries, conservation laboratories and educational and storage facilities, as well as a restaurant and café. Scroll through its colourful Instagram feed for museum news and potted information on highlight works in the collection.

Located on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, The Broad houses the trove of modern art belonging to mega-collectors Eli and Edythe Broad. It contains more than 2,000 works by artists such as Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein and Yayoi Kusama, as well as the single biggest holding of Cindy Sherman pieces — numbering some 128. On Instagram, The Broad celebrates artists’ birthdays and new exhibitions and acquisitions. It also posts pictures taken by its visitors.

The non-profit art museum MACAAL in Marrakech has just reopened its doors following a major renovation project. The building now has a permanent space for its collection of contemporary African art, as well as a new media library and redesigned public and gallery spaces.

In addition to hosting regular exhibitions that promote the work of artists from Morocco and its neighbouring countries, it offers training and workshop facilities for local artists. The inaugural exhibition, Seven Contours, One Collection, features more than 150 works ranging in date from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day, and celebrating the creative energy of the African continent and its diaspora.

Over the course of its 259-year history, Christie’s has grown to become respected across the globe for its take on all things art. Our Instagram feed, which has more than 1.2 million followers, highlights upcoming auctions as well as exhibition highlights, collecting guides, interviews and news.

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