There are museums you visit and museums you travel for. These seven belong to the second category.

1. Museo del Prado — Madrid

Velázquez and Goya under one roof. European painting at its highest.

2. MoMA — New York

The story of modern art, told by those who defined it.

3. Rijksmuseum — Amsterdam

Rembrandt and Vermeer, in the building designed to hold them.

4. MALBA — Buenos Aires

The best entry point to twentieth-century Latin American art.

5. Uffizi Gallery — Florence

The Italian Renaissance, room after room, without pause.

6. Tate Modern — London

Contemporary art inside a former power station. The container matches the content.

7. Museo Nacional de Antropología — Mexico City

Millennia of Mesoamerican history in one of the most complete collections in the world.