San Miguel de Allende
The other cities on this list have earned their place by being avid proprietors of stunning architecture/fully stocked museums/dedication to the progression of the arts/delete as applicable. This city is a little bit different. San Miguel de Allende is a picturesque town located in the mountains outside of Mexico City. It is known less for its accomplished curation of art and more for the draw it holds for those who wish to create their own. New York magazine described it as ‘the closest thing Mexico has to Florence’. Partly due to the unusual light bestowed upon the town and partly because of a natural artistic progression, the town boasts amazing art classes; from painting, jewelery-making, ceramics and sculpture, there’s virtually every medium available. There are lots of fantastic art galleries to visit if you seek inspiration.

Florence

You simply can’t talk about arty cities without mentioning their presiding Italian aristocrat du jour. Florence is the big daddy of artistic citites, and with good reason. The birthplace of the Renaissance movement, Florence is home to frescoes, paintings, sculpture, altar pieces and is no less than Michaelangelos home town!  The Galleria dell’ Accademia is where you’ll find Michelangelo’s David, the Duomo and, the Galleria degli Uffizi, the first modern museum in all of Europe and a rituous celebration of works by Botticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt, and of course Michelangelo. Close by is the Palazzo Strozzi, which initially positioned itself as an “anti-Uffizi” of contemporary art when it opened its Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina (Center for Contemporary Culture) in 2007, housing  video installations in its courtyard and showcasing other groundbreaking artistic movements. Every corner of Florence is a masterpiece, and even if you don’t visit a single museum whilst you’re there, you’ll still feel like you’ve immersed yourself in culture, beauty and artistic splendour just by going to the supermarket for a loaf of bread.

Paris

Where all good art-lovers come to die, Paris is a city uncompromisingly dedicated to the celebration of beauty. Its museums boast some of the world’s most thrilling pieces of art, ranging from the charmingly archaic to the most ground breaking, contemporary pieces imaginable, with masterpieces coming out of its chic-ly dressed ears.  The mighty Louvre  will initially dwarf all other museams; showcasing over 35,000 works of art, it is packed to the rafters with tourists at pretty much every time of the year, holding treasures Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the legendary Venus de Milo sculpture like it does. The Musée d’Orsay hosts a gorgeous collection of late 19th- to early 20th-century pieces. Fans of Impressionism will certainly be visiting the striking works of Cézanne, Renoir, Manet, Monet, and Van Gogh, among others. The Centre Pompidou, known to Parisians as “Beaubourg,” is a controversial paean to modern art – some Parisians hate it, while others feel it is a strong step forward for modern architecture. The city itself is, like Florence, an ever evolving work of art, which manages to change and adapt whilst still retaining the intrinsically archaic charm it is famous for.