Museums & Munchies

Begin at the Yale University Art Gallery, whose 2012 renovation and expansion project was met with universal acclaim – The New York Times called it “wonderful,” the Boston Globe termed it “a masterpiece.” Inside, you’ll find art and objects spanning many countries and cultures, from African art to coins and medals to American paintings by Homer, Sargent, Hopper and Eakins. Admission is free to both this gallery and the Yale Center for British Art.

The Yale Center for British Art (re-opening in May 2016) was recently named by The Times of London as one of the world’s best 50 art galleries, so let’s begin here. Housed in a Louis I. Kahn-designed building and opened in 1974, the museum claims the largest and most comprehensive collection (2,000 painting and 200 sculptures) of British art outside the United Kingdom. Get your Hogarth, Turner, Gainsborough and Constable fix right here.

Plan your next day according to the type of museum you’d like to see, because New Haven still offers a number of good choices. There’s Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History, famous for its Great Hall of Dinosaurs and exhibits dedicated to human and mammal evolution; there’s the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, one of the best in the world; the Knights of Columbus Museum features often fascinating exhibitions of artwork and history, usually pertaining to the heritage of Catholicism; and the New Haven Museum covers 375 years of local art, history and culture.