World Art Day: The best cities for an art fix, from New York to Amsterdam

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The city was already on connoisseurs’ radars due to its thriving gallery district, Woodstock, and the annual Investec Cape Town Art Fair, the largest event of its kind in Africa. Meanwhile, the Hermitage displays rotating selections of works and artefacts from the Hermitage collection in Russia, plus hosts special events such as art talks; the Van Gogh Museum tracks the beloved artist’s journey from his early work to the sunflowers; and the Stedelijk is the largest Dutch museum dedicated to contemporary art and design. Come for the Frida Kahlo, stay for the city’s 150 museums: there’s a thriving contemporary art scene typified by two annual art fairs, Zona Maco and Material Art Fair. New York, US open image in gallery New York’s wealth of galleries means you’re never far from inspiration There are around 1,500 art galleries in America’s most swaggering city, including some seriously big-ticket ones: The Met, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art to name just three, each with world-famous pieces to their name.