Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is one of the great encyclopaedic museums of the United States, with collections strong enough to make any single visit feel partial. The Art of the Americas wing, opened in 2010 by Foster + Partners, holds Copley, Sargent, Homer, Eakins, Cassatt, and the largest Stuart portrait collection anywhere; the original beaux-arts Huntington Avenue building handles the European paintings, including thirty-eight Monets.
The Asian collection is one of the best outside Asia — assembled in the late nineteenth century by Bostonians like Ernest Fenollosa and Edward Morse who travelled widely in Japan. The Buddhist sculpture hall, the Japanese painting galleries, and the Nubian collection (the result of decades of MFA-funded excavation in Sudan) are the museum's quiet glories.
Allow half a day at least. The Bravo restaurant on the lower level does a proper lunch; the New American Cafe is quicker. Wednesdays after 4 pm are pay-what-you-wish.