Best Museum

While we're happy to give the University of Texas' art museum points for size – at 180,000 square feet, it's the largest university art museum in the country – what we really prize is what the Blanton does with all that space: showcasing the best of the 18,000 works in its collections of prints, European Renaissance and baroque art, 20th century North American art, and contemporary Latin American art; regularly commissioning new art in its free-form WorkSpace; presenting brilliant one-of-a-kind exhibitions such as the reconstruction of Veronese's long-lost Petrobelli Altarpiece and the heartfelt, personal group show "Desire"; offering lively, interesting public programs and literally throwing a party for art every month of the year. (You go, B Scene!) The Blanton makes art active.