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Art Principles and History

Introduction

What is the difference between an art museum and an art gallery?

The major difference between a museum and a gallery is that while each is a place that displays art, that art is usually for sale in a gallery but not in a museum. Both museums and galleries play an important civic role in the sharing of art and cultural ideas. Slightly complicating things, however, is that the term “art gallery” can also refer to a room or a series of rooms in a museum. When walking through an art museum such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one might notice that rooms are referred to as “galleries.”



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