Netta Ulibi

This gift comes at a challenging moment for American museums.

Tourism is down.

Federal funding has been cut.

And ever since President Trump started targeting museums as, quote, the last remaining segment of woke, corporations have been cautious about philanthropy.

But now, the National Gallery has announced that a wealthy art collector and entrepreneur named Mitchell P. Rails, who used to run its board of trustees, will help some of the museum's most important works be seen at regional museums starting next year.

The National Gallery owns nearly 200,000 works of art, including major pieces by the likes of Claude Monet and Georgia O'Keeffe.

The costs of shipping, insuring, and installing such art are staggering, but bringing these works to museums across the U.S.

can help draw local visitors and support.

Netta Ulibi, NPR News.

Officials at the Louvre these days complain about over-attendance.

But that does not stop them from making slick, promotional YouTube videos about its exquisite restorations of old master paintings.

Other most popular museums include the Vatican Museum at No.

2 and the National Museum of Korea in Seoul at No.

3.

Major art museums in East Asia have seen a notable spike in attendance, including in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

But in the U.S., museum attendance is shakier.

For example, wildfires and government shutdowns last year adversely affected attendance at many museums in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Netta Ulibi, NPR News.

Officials at the Louvre these days complain about over-attendance.

But that does not stop them from making slick, promotional YouTube videos about its exquisite restorations of old master paintings.