Guest Author - Kimberly Button

If you’ve never enjoyed going to art museums, perhaps you just haven’t visited the right ones. Art comes in all shapes and sizes and, sure, some museums are stuffy and boring, but not the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York. A visit to Albright-Knox is fun for the whole family and will give you a new appreciation for art. Best of all, a visit to the museum is free on Fridays!

Albright-Knox Art Gallery is one of the nation’s top centers for contemporary art. In fact, it was one of the first museums in the U.S. to start collecting modern art in the 1920s.

Today, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s collection contains more than 6,000 works, ranging from art from 3,000 B.C. to works from present day artists. Among the well known artists are Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns.

Walking through the large, airy rooms of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is a feast for the eyes. Bold, bright pieces of modern art seem to pop off the walls. During a recent exhibition that I attended, hundreds of small clear juice cups were filled with a myriad of dried paint colors and grouped together to create a mural that was displayed on the floor. The simplicity of the art was inspiring and left you thinking “Why didn’t I think of that?”

That’s one of the best things about contemporary art. Love it or hate it, you walk away feeling that you, too, could sometimes create a similar piece of artwork. Contemporary art often draws upon bright colors and simple lines, not intricate portraits of a regal family or complicated landscapes that the average person can’t do. And if you’re a fan of the home decorating shows that encourage home owners to create their own artwork to save money, then a visit to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery will definitely inspire your creativity.

Now, not all of the art in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is so simplistic. There are intricate pieces of artwork that will leave you breathless and plenty more pieces that are guaranteed to spark conversation. Regardless of your taste or knowledge in art, chances are that the Albright-Knox Art Gallery has something for everyone.

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended operating hours on Fridays until 10 p.m. Adult admission is $12 with free admission on Fridays from 3 – 10 p.m. For more information, click here to visit www.albrightknox.org.

Do you know of another great art museum or gallery that you would recommend to fellow travelers? Click on the forum link below to recommend an art musuem.

Photos Courtesy of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery


Kimberly Button is the author of The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook, the only Walt Disney World® Resort theme park guidebook that features scavenger hunts, trivia questions, word puzzles and hidden Mickey searches tailored to each attraction to alleviate boredom while standing in lines. For more information and to read an excerpt, visit www.disneysurvivalguide.com