Princeton U. Art Museum Named One Of TIME's Greatest Places Of 2026

PRINCETON, NJ — The Princeton University Art Museum has been named one of Time magazine's greatest places of 2026.

The recognition puts the newly opened New Jersey institution in the company of the world's most celebrated cultural destinations.

The museum, which opened to the public on Oct. 31, 2025, with a 24-hour community open house, spans 146,000 square feet across 32 galleries — roughly double the exhibition space of the Picasso Museum in Paris.

Time praised the facility for its striking design by Adjaye Associates, which pairs a Brutalist exterior with warm, light-filled interiors finished in blue spruce.

The collection features an array of celebrated artists including Rodin, Manet, Monet, Degas, and Kandinsky, but curators have also made a deliberate effort to represent North and Latin American voices through six new commissions and acquisitions spotlighting women and artists of color. Among them is Syrian-born sculptor Diana Al-Hadid, whose work is part of the museum's permanent collection, TIME said.

“To combat museum fatigue, curators play with juxtapositions: a Nick Cave Soundsuit next to an Edo-period samurai suit; Andy Warhol’s Blue Marilyn, a 1962 screenprint of Marilyn Monroe as a sacred icon, facing a late-14th-century Florentine Virgin and Child. Anchoring it all is a colossal, 37-ft.-tall Cave mosaic at the entrance—a mixed-media “self-portrait” done as a wall relief—that ushers visitors into what’s poised to become a landmark museum.

The three-level building, designed in collaboration with Cooper Robertson, features nine interlocking pavilions, two interior artwalks, a Grand Hall accommodating up to 265 people, conservation studios, and a restaurant with outdoor dining.

"Our new Museum offers many ways to have intimate encounters with art, to pursue curiosity, engage in meaningful dialogue, and to find solace or belonging," Chief Curator Juliana Ochs Dweck said at the time of its opening.

The Princeton University Art Museum is located on the historic campus and is free and open to the public.

Each year, the magazine solicits nominations from its international network of correspondents and contributors, as well as through an open application process, with an eye toward destinations offering new, exciting, and relevant experiences.

The 2026 list was released against the backdrop of a global travel boom, with roughly 1.5 billion tourists venturing abroad in 2025 — about 4 percent more than the year prior, the magazine said.

Other honorees on this year's list include Philadelphia's Netflix House, London's new V&A Storehouse East, and Abu Dhabi's first artificial surf park.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com