The best museums in Miami to get your art on

What began as a family collection more than 50 years ago has evolved into one of the city’s most sought-after art spaces. Recently relocated from its Wynwood home to a sprawling converted warehouse space in Allapattah, the museum features 48 exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, photographs, videos, and installations curated from the collection’s impressive 7,200 works by more than 1,000 artists.

Don’t miss: Art in the form of food at Leku, the chic onsite restaurant that made our list of the best restaurants in Miami. Expect a delightful journey through Spain’s Basque country, from the wines and the dishes to the signature burnt cheesecake.

PAMM is a cultural hotspot in more ways than one. Obviously, you’ll find plenty of stunning contemporary art scattered inside the modern museum. But PAMM’s waterfront steps also serve as a meeting point for Miami creatives, hosting events that range from indie concerts and drag shows to Q&As with legendary artists.

Don’t miss: Before you even walk through the door, PAMM’s interactive outdoor installations will make the trip worth it. Enjoy bayfront views as you peruse the sculpture garden, or pull out your phone to experience the ongoing augmented reality (AR) exhibition by Miami-based digital artist Felice Grodin.

Frost Science is a family-friendly museum with state-of-the-art technology and a mind-blowing planetarium. The kids are going to love bouncing from floor to floor, walking through the interactive exhibits and looking at the wildlife. And the adults are going to feel like kids again.

Don’t miss: “The Deep,” the last of the aquarium’s three levels, where you’ll learn about the vast depths of the Gulf Stream. Your journey culminates with a 31-foot oculus lens forming the bottom of the Gulf Stream Aquarium (and an iconic photo opp), where tuna and sharks cruise overhead.

A cultural island flanked by nightclubs and late-night eateries, its permanent collections offer a fascinating perspective into various historical events told through elements of design: paintings, graphic designs and advertising. Wolfsonian is the perfect place to put away your phone and appreciate the older forms of human rhetoric, and admission is always free.

Don’t miss: Commencing in 2021, Wolfsonian will undergo a large expansion including 50,000 square feet of galleries and program space. As part of the expansion, the museum will open its vaults to bring never-before-displayed, larger-than-life artworks out of storage and into view in a new two-story Great Hall Gallery.

Hip, trendy, sleek and—best of all—free! ICA Miami presents contemporary works and site-specific installations across six galleries and a 15,000-square-foot sculpture garden. You won’t spend hours and hours here but it’s a perfect dose of wonderfully curated works.

Don’t miss: Aside from the parking garage across the street, which is perhaps the funkiest building in all of Miami (really), check out ICA Speaks, a series of free art talks from museum artists that happens periodically at the Design District’s open-air palm court. Check ICA’s website for dates.

Established in 1940, HistoryMiami is the second oldest cultural institution in South Florida and a microcosm of Miami lore. Anytime a famous person makes history in Miami, it’s documented here—including the time the Beatles performed sold-out shows in Miami Beach. All exhibits at HistoryMiami are fun and interactive so kids of all ages will enjoy learning about a time they may or may not remember.

Don’t miss: The museum’s city tours, which include a boat excursion to Stiltsville (a series of colorful wooden houses built on the flats of Biscayne Bay that date back to the 1940s) led by resident historian Dr. Paul George.

At the center of Miami Beach’s Collins Park is the Bass, an Art Deco building recently renovated to include more exhibition space, four new galleries, a gift shop, café by Thierry Isambert and a new educational facility called the Creativity Center. Outside, you’ll find Ugo Rondinone’s colorful sculpture Miami Mountain, one of the coolest pieces of public art in the city.

Don’t miss: The Bass Highlights Tour, an interactive, behind-the-scenes rundown of the museum’s best works, guided by a trained educator. Tours run for 45 minutes every Saturday at 2pm and are included with the cost of museum admission.

MOCA was a trailblazer in Miami’s 1990s art scene, assembling a collection of contemporary works when no one else was. A bit off the beaten path and more low-key than the museums clustered in downtown Miami, you’ll still find big Art Basel debuts and avant-garde exhibitions from international artists here.

Don’t miss: The recently relaunched Jazz at the MOCA, an absolutely charming outdoor affair that takes place on the last Friday of the month and is 100 percent free.

The Frosts sure like their museums. This one (the only Smithsonian-affiliated art museum in Miami) is on the FIU campus and admission is always free and open to the public. Permanent collections include African artifacts, pre-Columbian art and a substantial collection of American prints from the 1960s.

Don’t miss: “Tesoro,” an ongoing exhibition by Pepe Mar. A distinguished FIU alumn and Miami resident, Mar’s collage-like presentation marries a broad range of visual references and personal obsessions spanning art, fashion, queer history and Mexican culture.

This small but notable museum comes courtesy of the University of Miami. Lowe was actually the first art museum in Miami (opened in 1950) and paved the way for a number of newcomers, introducing the city to international artists thanks to a number of traveling exhibitions it welcomes annually.

Don’t miss: Stroll Lowe’s lovely sculpture garden on UM’s campus while reminiscing about your own college years.

Wynwood's only art museum is dedicated to the very medium that put the neighborhood on the map: graffiti. Learn about the history of tagging, from its genesis in 1970s New York to its ascendance as a respected global art form. The museum features a permanent collection of iconic taggers’ indelible work. 

Don't miss: The museum puts on regular programming for kids and adults alike, including graffiti lessons for the little ones and bike tours for the grown-ups interested in seeing more street art. Check its website for the latest.

Here’s a museum for the little ones. No fancy champagne or strict rules here. Located on Watson Island, most of the museum operates as a large, interactive playground, giving children the opportunity to learn through hands-on experiences and activities designed to coincide with the Miami-Dade Public Schools curriculum.

Don’t miss: Remember that big piano Tom Hanks plays with his feet in Big? They have one.

The museum will give you some perspective into one of Miami’s most lavish areas, and its historic building is the former site of Coral Gables’ old fire and police stations. Coral Gables Museum is smack in the middle of the neighborhood’s most vibrant area, which means you can make an afternoon out of the trip.

Don’t miss: The museum’s guided waterway kayak tours will teach you all about the abundant wildlife and historic landmarks along the area’s man-made waterways. Tours meet on the last Sunday of the month at the launch ramp under the Metrorail along US1/Ponce and Riviera Dr.

Home of the six-foot-tall penis, an impressively diverse collection of sex toys and even a Picasso, the 12,000-square-foot World Erotic Art Museum pays homage to erotic expression in the erotic land of South Beach. WEAM offers all sorts of programming, from talks and roundtable discussions to nude sketching. Whether it’s through conversations, art or general immersion, there’s really no safer space to express your sexuality than at WEAM.

Don’t miss: The penis collection. Enough said.

You'll find the Gold Coast Railroad Museum only a hop, skip and a jump away from Zoo Miami. Here you can wander through over 40 rail cars of yore. Since it's a relaxed affair, it's perfect for family day trips, and kids can enjoy a ride on the Edwin Link Children’s Railroad for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

Don’t miss: The Presidential Rail Car Ferdinand Magellan, which carried presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower and, for one day during the 1984 election campaign, Ronald Reagan.