Find nearby galleries and museums with City Art Search

City Art Search is a travel app for Windows 10 that helps you locate local art exhibits, galleries and museums. It is a great tool for finding a cool place to visit in the summer heat and enjoy some great works of art.

The app includes over 6,700 listings, lockscreen and Live Tile support and you can create a list of favorite art destinations that synchronizes across all your Windows devices.

The free app is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, as well as Windows 8.1 PC and Phones that includes low-memory devices.

City Art Search

City Art Search's main menu is straightforward, with a global map filling the upper portion of the display followed by a search field and a section for your search results. The menu bar that runs across the bottom of the screen holds options to view nearby art, view any art exhibits tagged as favorites, access the app's settings and return to the home view of the primary menu.

Settings cover a wide range of items that include lockscreen options, nudity/religious filters, search parameters, Live Tile options and more.

Along with the menu buttons, the bottom bar has a three-dot menu that reveals options to view Wikipedia references on artists or artwork, a online search option for the galleries and options to report a problem or view the About screen.

Searching for an art location can be as simple as tapping the nearby button or searching by keyword. City Art Search supports keyword searches for city, artist or specific pieces of art. Results are mapped out and listed on the main display.

City Art Search

A small sampling of artwork from galleries, museums and exhibits is listed beneath the location and tapping on one of these listings pulls up a thumbnail image of that work of art. Tapping and holding on this thumbnail generates a pop-up menu with options to set the image as the Live Tile, save the image locally, share the image, view in high definition and view information on the artist. You also have the ability to tag a piece of art as a favorite by tapping the star symbol located on the thumbnail's border.

The Windows 10 PC version has the same functionality as the Mobile version but takes advantage of the bigger display by providing a larger map view. The menu controls and search results line the sides of the display.

City Art Search

City Art Search is a simple, straightforward way to discover local art. The free app is available for Windows 10 PC and Mobile, as well as Windows 8.1 PC and Windows Phone 8.1. It has over 6,700 global locations and tons of thumbnail images to give you a feel for things.

While a nice Windows 10 app, I think City Art Search would be more appealing if you could generate driving directions to the art location. In the very least include the locations address in the description — that may be the biggest hurdle City Art Search has. It does a good job of locating local art but needs to do a better job of getting you there. Otherwise, you may be better off simply having Cortana search for local art.

Download City Art Search for Windows 10 PC and Mobile (opens in new tab)

QR: City Art Search

George Ponder

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.

15 Comments
  • The best! Just needs more!
  • After I choose a gallery, an arrow appears below zoom buttons on the map and it takes me to bing maps to get directions and address
  • Looks like WP8.1 so no thanks.
  • I have it working on my W10 tablet right now. Unless you're really just complaining about its appearance. It's good.
  • Thats it, appearance. And not in Dutch, so a no go for me.
  • City Art Search is a very rich, deep app, very well executed and very well supported by the developer. Perhaps you should try it for awhile set to randomly paint your lockscreen, you might be surpised how it adds a bit of class to a W8.1 or W10 phone/tablet/desktop. And, you might learn something.
  • Awesome app! It has long been one of my favorites made by Microsoft and is constantly updated by the developer. A virtual art museum to explore, discover, and see art from around the world.
  • I used this in my trip to France and it is amazing
  • Does Boba Fett use the app?
  • Love the concept but the directory needs to be bigger. There are a ton of medium to small size art galleries and museums near me, but only the two largest ones show up. Wish there was a way for users to add to the directory.
  • Try asking the developer by providing feedback via the Store, or via "report a problem" under the ellipsis (...) at lower right corner of app's homescreen. I requested a little-know western American artist (Charlie Russel) and luckily the developer was able to locate the art and add it to the collection. Not all works of art or museum listings are made available to the public, so he can't fulfill every request, but he sure tries to.
  • Nice app for my tablet lockscreen.
  • I can't say enough good about this truly classy app.  To put it succinctly, as Mozo back covers are to the back of some Windows phones, City Art Search is to the front of the phone (when set to randomly paint lockscreen images). It is a quality app that really dresses up the phone.       I've been using City Art Search for about a year now, IMO it is a true "Easter egg" in and of itself, because it lends a genuinely delightful air of class to my phone, Surface Pro 3 and Dell desktop machines. I set it to randomly paint my lockscreens, and I've discovered so much cool art that I would have never seen without it. So, don't think of it just as a "travel app", think of it as an every-day learning app, and as providing the world's classiest lockscreen images.   This is not currently available on iOS or Android, so far it is a Windows exclusive, so when set to randomly cycle as your lock screen,  it is a way to show how much more depth Windows mobile has than iOS or Android ;-)     As one poster already pointed out, the author of this review got one detail wrong, because by tapping on the gallery name, then tapping on the arrow icon, it offers to bring up Maps for driving directions. Also, as the author pointed out, this is a free app, but more than that, it is completely add-free and there are no in-app purchases. It’s a labor of love by the developer, whose regular job is a programmer.   Also, I can't say enough good about how responsive the developer is and how frequently he updates the app and adds more art, including adding art upon request (if it is available for him to access).  
  • I used this app when I was vacationing in Rome, it's amazingly useful.
  • I'm the dev! Please email me from the app if you have any questions, issues, or recommendations.