This museum's permanent collection includes 19th- and 20-century American works, including many by African-American artists. It also displays contemporary art. The building itself is a work of art; the American Institute of Architects listed the sleek structure, designed by Richard Meier, among the 10 best works of American architecture of the 1980s. An expansion designed by Renzo Piano opened in 2005. At this writing, a three-year partnership with the Louvre Museum in Paris was scheduled to begin in late 2006, making available hundreds of works from the Parisian museum's collection. On the third Friday of every month, the museum is open until 10 PM.

High Museum of Art

*Features fantastic exhibits, including The Louvre Atlanta

One of the Southeast's premier art museums. Grab a post museum lunch or dinner at the new Table 1280 designed by internationally acclaimed Renzo Piano that is on the Museum's property. Exhibits in November: A) "Inspiring Impressionism," a survey exploring the influence of Old Master painters on Impressionist artists, juxtaposing works by such artists as Monet, Cézanne and Degas with those by Titian, Rubens and Fragonard to explore the impact that 17th-century Dutch and Spanish Schools and the French Rococo style had on 19th-century French Impressionism; B) "The Louvre and the Ancient World," featuring masterpieces from the founding cultures of Western civilization and including more than 70 works from the Louvre’s unparalleled Egyptian, Near Eastern and Greco-Roman antiquities collections; C) "The Eye of Josephine," reassembling more than 60 masterworks from the collection of Greco-Roman and Egyptian antiquities that were installed by the Empress Josephine Bonaparte at Malmaison, her residence located on the outskirts of Paris.

Sightseeing activity

If you're an art lover, you can't miss the High Museum of Art while in town. The High not only has a great permanent collection, but will have its highly publicized Louvre exhibit through September. I'm hoping to catch this exhibit myself before it leaves town!

Check their website for current exhibitions.

The High Museum of Art, founded in 1905 as the Atlanta Art Association, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta 's Midtown arts and business district, the High has over 11,000 works of art in its permanent collection.