The Best Gifts From Museum Shops

A treasure trove of artful delights.

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By Merin Curotto

There's something deeply satisfying about holding a tangible object that encapsulates the spirit of human creativity. That's the magic of a well-curated museum shop—it offers not just mementos, but portals into the realms of art, history and ideas. These pieces are more than mere trinkets; they're conversation starters, thought provokers and tiny emblems of the vast world of human expression. Whether you're shopping for the art aficionado who has it all or the design devotee with a keen eye, these singular finds are sure to delight and inspire.

Our Favorite Gifts From Museum Shops

'The Last of Her Kind' Sculpture

A hauntingly lifelike cast-amber sculpture of the extinct passenger pigeon by artist Rachel Berwick, courtesy of Aldrich Editions—a program that supports emerging and mid-career artists and raises funds for the museum.

$700 | The Aldrich

Courtesy of the Aldrich Museum

Future Climate Patches

British duo Parsons & Charlesworth imagine a future where New York City has adapted to climate change by establishing urban nature reserves and regenerative projects, as depicted in six embroidered patches.

$25 each | New museum

Courtesy of the New Museum Store

Basquiat 'Hollywood Africans' Mug

Coffee with a side of Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1983 commentary on stereotypes of African Americans in entertainment.

Courtesy of The Whitney Shop

Barkley L. Hendricks Collection 'Victory at 23' Enamel Earrings

Melody Ehsani's enamel tribute to Barkley L. Hendricks' iconic 1981 painting, Victory at 23, honors the influential painter and photographer known for his vibrant portraits that celebrate the style, individuality and humanity of urban Black Americans.

$78 | Studio Museum in Harlem

Courtesy of the Studio Store

'The American West In Art' Book

The history and imagery of the American West, featuring a selection of artworks from the Denver Art Museum's Petrie Institute of Western American Art's collection, which traces the region's artistic evolution from the early 1800s through the modernist movements of the mid-20th century and includes some of the most important 19th-century landscape paintings in American history.

$45 | Denver Art Museum

Courtesy of the Denver Art Museum

Andy Warhol Films, Inc. Sweatshirt

A Printed-in-Pittsburgh design, based on a 1973 t-shirt promoting Andy Warhol’s film L’Amour—one of over 300,000 everyday possessions Warhol boxed into time capsules in the last 13 years of his life.

$54 | The Warhol Museum

Courtesy of The Andy Warhol Museum Store

Calder 'Do Not Touch' Tote

A durable yet lightweight tote created for the High Wire: Calder's Circus at 100 exhibition, featuring the French phrase "Defense de Toucher" (Do not touch) from Alexander Calder's iconic 1926-31 Circus work.

$175 | the Whitney

Courtesy of The Whitney Shop

'Nothing is new but everything’s new'

A limited-edition boxed set celebrating the Noguchi Museum's 40th anniversary that weaves ephemera, photographs and archival materials to tell the story of the unique Long Island City building and land that sculptor Isamu Noguchi transformed into a haven for his art and legacy.

$65 | Noguchi Shop

Courtesy of the Noguchi Shop

Calida Rawles Paperweight

A 3" glass dome paperweight by Calida Rawles, capturing the artist's hyperrealistic style in a powerful exploration of the complex history of the African American experience.

$40 | PAMM

Courtesy of the PAMM Shop

'Unfamiliar People' Scarf

A subtly wry silk scarf based on a series of artworks in Takashi Murakami's 2023 exhibition, offering shimmering commentary on the shifting social dynamics of the pandemic era, in which once-familiar people became strangers.

$399 | Cha May Ching Museum Boutique

Courtesy of Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

'There Are Artists Among Us' Sweatshirt

A cozy nod to Whitney founder and sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who supported living American artists in the early 20th century when most collectors favored established, mostly deceased, Europeans.

$50 | the Whitney

Courtesy of The Whitney Shop

'Le Perroquet' Reversible Pendant

Finn Design's pendant salutes Henri Rousseau, subject of the "lush, hypnotic" A Painter’s Secrets at the Barnes, an exhibition bringing the two most important Rousseau collections in the world together for the first time.

$178 | The barnes

Courtesy of the Barnes Foundation

Rahim Fortune's 'Hardtack'

Rahim Fortune's photographic exploration of the enduring roots of Black culture in the American South.

$67 | Nelson-Atkins

Courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Shop

97 Orchard St. Floor Plan Tray

A charming melamine floorplan of the 97 Orchard Street, the Lower East Side tenement home to an estimated 7,000 European immigrants between 1863 and 1935.

$20 | Tenement museum

Courtesy of the Tenement Museum

Typewriter Eraser Stubbs & Wootton Sllipers

Legendary Palm Beach brand Stubbs & Wootton made-to-order slippers, flashing an embroidered version of the Claes Oldenburg and van Bruggen Typewriter Eraser that greets visitors at the entrance of the Norton Museum of Art.

$625 | The norton

Courtesy of the Norton Museum of Art

'Black Earth Rising' Book

The companion to curator Ekow Eshun's 2025 Black Earth Rising BMA exhibition, tracing the complex interplay of race, colonialism and the climate crisis.

$60 | BMa

Courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Art

Medusa Corduroy Dad Hat

Corduroy meets the legendary head of Medusa to create a hat that tips to 3rd-century Roman mosaics from the Getty's collection.

$60 | the Getty

'Senga Nengudi: populated air' Book

The multifaceted work of Senga Nengudi, featuring never-before-seen drawings, prints, photographs, performance scores and poetry that span her six-decade career and had profound impact on the Black Arts movement.

$50 | DIA

Courtesy of the Dia Shop

Clyfford Still Acrylic Pin

A classic acrylic pin honoring the face of American artist Clyfford Still, credited with heralding the emergence of Abstract Expressionism in the late 1930s, years ahead of his contemporaries.

$3.50 | Clyfford Still Museum

Courtesy of the Clyfford Still Museum

'Shunga: Stages of Desire'

A peek plunge into early modern Japan's thriving sexual culture via HoMA's collection of Japanese erotic art.

$30 | HoMA

Courtesy of the HoMA Shop

Block Shop x LACMA Robe

A take on William Morris' "Rose" that subs California poppies for English roses, designed by L.A.'s Block Shop for LACMA's Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures.

$165 | LACMA

Courtesy of the LACMA Store

'Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists'

Curator and art world luminary Antwaun Sargent brings together works by a new generation of Black contemporary artists, offering a fresh perspective on how these emerging voices are shaping the discourse around identity, politics and art history.

$50 | Studio Museum

Courtesy of the Studio Store

'Rabbits Throwing Snowballs' Mug

A daily visit to the imaginative world of Peter Rabbit and his creator, inspired by a letter in the Morgan's collection from the beloved Beatrix Potter.

$15 | The Morgan

Frick Ceiling Umbrella

The Frick's second floor reopened in 2025, and this umbrella opens to the chinoiserie detail of John Alden Twachtman's second-floor ceiling, initially installed in 1914.

$60 | the frick

The Frick Collection Shop

'Navigating the Waves: Contemporary Cuban Photography'

A survey of contemporary Cuban photography from the extraordinary Madeleine P. Plonsker Collection, tracing the evolution of artistic expression in the post-Soviet era, from celebrations of the Revolution to powerful personal critiques of social and political realities.

$50 | MFAH

Courtesy of the MFAH Shop

Mickalene Thomas Flowers Hat

A five-panel cap with an eye-catching print of Mickalene Thomas' signature 1970s-inspired floral motif, originally inspired by the upholstery in her New Jersey childhood home.

$69 | Smithsonian gift shop

Courtesy of the Smithsonian Gift Shop

Juicy Cherry T-Shirt

A cheery reminder of Minneapolis' most iconic public art: Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's Spoonbridge and Cherry, which has delighted the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center since 1988.

$30 | Walker Museum

Courtesy of the Walker Art Center Museum Shop

Museum Nerd x VMFA Sweatshirt

Museum Nerds infiltrated the VMFA and left behind a covetable, retro, collegiate block sweatshirt.

$85 | vmfa

Courtesy of the VMFA Shop

'Art Dog' Book

A compendium of clever canines immortalized in art through the ages, from Japanese prints to Italian frescoes—a testament to the enduring bond between humans and our beloved four-legged friends.

$17 | Crystal Bridges Museum

Courtesy of the Crystal Bridges Museum Shop

'Kansas Cornfield' Magnet

An acrylic salutation to the beauty and light of America's heartland in John Steuart Curry's 1933 Kansas Cornfield.

$8 | Wichita Art Museum Shop

Courtesy of the Wichita Art Museum Shop

'I Paint Therefore I am' Cashmere Sweater

A painterly twist on René Descartes' famous motto, hand-stitched in red thread as a wearable manifesto for the artist's life.

$385 | Hirshhorn Museum Shop

Hirshhorn Museum Shop

Edward Gorey Lion Cap

A proud little lion inspired by Chicago artist, writer and School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum Edward Gorey, whose work is inseparable from literature, theater and popular culture.

$25 | Art Institute of Chicago

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago Store

PAMM Building Mug

A caffeine vessel of PAMM architectural marvels: its geometric design, lush hanging gardens, Biscayne views and warm plank flooring.

$25 | Pamm

Courtesy of the PAMM Shop

Jackson Wool Rug

A 2'x3' hand-hooked wool rug inspired by the art of Barbara Gilhooly Mighty, for An Ecology of Quilts: The Natural History of American Textiles.

$235 | aFAM

Courtesy of the American Folk Art Museum Shop

Patch Birth of Venus Botticelli

A wearable homage to the enduring influence of Renaissance art on modern Italian fashion, sold as a companion to Renaissance to Runway: The Enduring Italian Houses.

$15 | Cleveland Museum of Art

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art Shop

Long Jakes 'The Rocky Mountain Man' Scarf

The romance of the Old West in silk jacquard, by early American master Charles Deas.

$72 | AMWA

Courtesy of the AMWA Shop

Dan Hernandez: 'Souvenir Plate featuring a Ruined Beacon'

A ceramic ode to the extinguished beacon from Dan Hernandez's Hero's Journey series—a souvenir of the ruined landmarks and narrative upheavals explored in the artist's video game-inspired works.

$5,500 | TMA

Courtesy of the TMA Shop

Witte Marvelje Knitted Embroidery Crewneck

A collar of embroidered birds and flowers based on a 17th-century Dutch watercolor from the Getty's collections.

$250 | the getty

Courtesy of The Getty Museum Store

Richard Avedon's 'In the American West'

Richard Avedon's portraits from the landmark 1985 exhibition, in a 40th anniversary reissue of the original catalogue—with a new foreword by John Rohrbach.

$100 | The Carter

Courtesy of The Carter Museum Shop

'Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn't Sorry'

A festival of Louise Bourgeois and her lifelong exploration of the polarities of human emotion.

$18 | MASS MOCA

Courtesy of the MASS MoCA Store

Great American Love Skate Deck Triptych

A triptych commemorating that which held great spiritual significance for sculptor Robert Indiana throughout his six-decade career.

$680 MAM

Courtesy of the MAM Shop

Tote Libertad

A daily reminder of Cuban artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara by Armando Tejuca, benefitting the families of Cuba's political prisoners.

$25 | Museo del Barrio

Courtesy of el Museo del Barrio Store

Teresa Baker Blanket

Teresa Baker's abstract blanket for An Indigenous Present, an exploration of 100 years of contemporary Indigenous art.

$350 | ICA Boston

Courtesy of the ICA Store

Isabella's Opera Coat Purse

An exquisite purple silk velvet, embroidered purse paying homage to Isabella Stewart Gardner's lavish opera coat, which was itself inspired by Marie Antionnette.

$145 | Gardner museum

MOCA Ring Watch

The updated MOCA Ring Watch combines the functionality of a timepiece with the eye-catching design of a statement ring, featuring a gold-colored finish, the museum's classic four-color logo on the watch face, and a bold, sculptural shape that makes it a must-have accessory for contemporary art enthusiasts.

$30 | MOCA

Courtesy of the MOCA Store

'Cafecito con Chisme' Mug

A mug that starts the day in a joyful Latinx way.

$25 | Museo del Barrio

Courtesy of el Museo del Barrio Store

13 Most Wanted Men: Andy Warhol and the 1964 World's Fair

A provocative 1964 New York World's Fair artifact: Warhol's controversial 13 Most Wanted Men mural, censored before its public debut, explored through 13 interviews that peel back the layers of this notorious Pop Art scandal.

$35 | Queens Museum

Courtesy of the Queens Museum Shop

Louis C. Tiffany Peacock Feather Wool-Blend Shawl

A ritual of peacock feathers, inspired by Louis Comfort Tiffany's sinuous designs and Art Nouveau's fascination with renewal and immortality.

$89 | The Met

Courtesy of The Met Store

Marjorie Phillips' 'Night Baseball' Cap

A cap for day or night, inspired by American Impressionist painter and art collector Marjorie Phillips' 1951 account of a Senators vs. Yankees moment.

$29 | Phillips Collection

Courtesy of The Phillips Collection Store

Guggenheim Gates Glass Pitcher

Borosilicate glass in a web-like tribute to the Guggenheim's architecture and legacy.

$50 | the Guggenheim

Courtesy of the Guggenheim Store

Ginny Ruffner's Inflatable Bouquet

A bouquet that never wilts from an artist whose career spans 95 solo shows, hundreds of group exhibitions, and inclusion in over 63 permanent collections worldwide.

$29 | SAM

Courtesy of the SAM Shop

Cassette Tape Wallet

A pitch-perfect accessory for exploring over two centuries of New York City's vibrant social dance scene in Urban Stomp.

$24 | Museum of the City of New York

Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York Shop

'Where Black Art Lives' Sweatshirt

A classic black crewneck that gets straight to the point in reflective, unforgettable ink.

$65 | Studio Museum in Harlem

Courtesy of the Studio Store

'Painting Energy' Bag

A canvas and leather tote hand-painted in custom colors created exclusively for the Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art.

$400 | PMA Shop

Courtesy of the PMA Shop

Picasso Coasters

An eye, a wink, a mouth and a nose capture the spirit of Picasso ("A head is a matter of eyes, nose, mouth, which can be distributed in any way you like").

$24 | DMA

Courtesy of the DMA Store

'Bird Shadow' Blanket

Florian Krewer's everybody rise in knit lambswool and cashmere, crafted in Scotland.

$1,000 | Aspen Art Museum

Courtesy of the Aspen Art Museum Store

Marian Paquette Liette Woven Handbag

Marian Paquette's eco-conscious design, crafted from repurposed fabrics, features a sophisticated brown stripe.

$545 | The Store At MAD

Courtesy of The Store at MAD

National Monument Audit

Monument Lab's comprehensive audit of the American commemorative landscape and assessment of the dynamics and trends that have shaped the nation's monuments, drawing from nearly half a million historic records to investigate approximately 50,000 conventional monuments across every U.S. state and territory.

$15 | MOCA Store

Courtesy of the MOCA Store

Lichtenstein 'House III' Drinking Glass

A rendition of Roy Lichtenstein's symbolism of the suburban American home, from the lawn of the Stent Family Wing.

Courtesy of the High Museum of Art Shop

Horsetail Silk Scarf

A silk scarf that weaves together over half a century of design history, West African storytelling and the enduring symbolism of the horse tail fly whisk as a mark of leadership.

$250 | Brooklyn Museum

Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum Shop

Degas 'Little Dancer' Pin

A diminutive brass homage to Edgar Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, capturing the taut poise and disciplined rigor of Marie van Goethem, a young Paris Opera Ballet student, forever frozen in time.

$10 | Philadelphia Art Museum hop

Courtesy of the Philadelphia Art Museum Store

Made in L.A. 2025 Tee

A crisp white tee paying homage to experimental filmmaker Mike Stoltz's signature 16mm works that spotlight the raw physicality of the medium.

$45 | Hammer Museum

Hammer Museum Shop

MCA Chicago Map Tray

A minimalist ode to the Windy City's urban geography, crafted with a singular focus on material and form.

$135 | MCA Store

Courtesy of the MCA Shop

Andrew Carnegie Plush

A plush reimagining of Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American steel tycoon and iconic industrialist whose former New York mansion now houses the Cooper Hewitt.

$69 | Cooper Hewitt

Courtesy of the Cooper Hewitt Shop

RM White Drawing Mug

A whimsical visual scavenger hunt that captures the adventurous spirit of the Rubell Museum.

$12 | Rubell Museum Shop

Rubell Museum Shop

Museum Cats Coasters

Four cork coasters, each featuring a different feline artwork from the MFA Boston's collection.

$21 | MFA Boston

Courtesy of MFA Boston Shop

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