New Orleans Museum of Art

The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) is the largest art museum in the Gulf South region, with a mission to inspire the love of art; to collect, preserve, exhibit and present excellence in the visual arts; and to educate, challenge and engage a diverse public. Founded in 1910, NOMA expanded in 1970, and again in 1993 to its current size of 130,750 square feet. The museum's permanent collection, which encompasses almost 40,000 objects spanning over 5,000 years, is noted for its strengths in French and American art, photography, and decorative arts, as well as its African, Japanese, and Louisiana collections. In 2003, the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden opened on a five-acre site adjacent to the museum. Home to over 60 sculptures by 20th- and 21st-century artists, the garden invites visitors to explore meandering footpaths, 150-year-old live oaks, and many other indigenous plants.

http://www.noma.org/