Blanton Museum of Art, Austin (must see)

The Blanton Museum of Art, located at the University of Texas at Austin, is a top spot for art fans and experts. It's one of the biggest art museums at a U.S. university, covering a huge 189,340 square feet. Inside, you'll find different sections for temporary and permanent exhibits, storage, offices, classrooms, a room for studying prints, an auditorium, and even a shop and café.

The museum started in 1963 as the University Art Museum, designed by Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects. Since then, it's gathered an impressive collection of over 21,000 artworks. It's known for its outstanding pieces in modern and contemporary art, Latin American art, Old Master paintings, and a vast selection of prints and drawings from Europe, the U.S., and Latin America.

One of the museum's treasures is the Suida-Manning Collection, which has over 275 items, mainly European art before the 20th century. This includes masterpieces by big names like Parmigianino, Paolo Veronese, Tiepolo, Rubens, Claude Lorrain, and Simon Vouet, from the 15th to 18th centuries. It also has works by less famous but important artists like Daniele Crespi and Luca Cambiaso. The collection focuses on Italian and French art and includes some 18th-century English paintings, like George Romney's famous "Lady Hamilton" from 1791.

The museum also has ancient artifacts like Greek, Etruscan, and Roman vases, some dating back to the sixth century BCE. Many came from the Castle Ashby Collection, put together by Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton, who supported digs in Vulci, an old Etruscan town, in the 1820s.

In modern and contemporary art, the museum has more than 4,000 objects. This part began with donations from novelist James Michener and his wife, Mari, in the 1960s. They gave over 300 works of 20th-century American paintings and funds to buy around 75 more.