☰Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

One of the finest art museums between the coasts, and admission is free. The Asian art collection — Chinese bronzes, Buddhist sculpture, Japanese screens — is genuinely world-class. The European galleries are strong on Dutch and Flemish masters, and the photography collection holds major works by Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and Gordon Parks. The Bloch Building addition (2007), designed by Steven Holl, is an architectural statement in its own right, a series of frosted glass lenses rising from the lawn. On that lawn you will find the four giant shuttlecock sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen — oversized badminton birdies planted in the grass as if the gods had just finished a game. Plan two to three hours minimum.