Museums and cultural institutions are one of New York City’s greatest resources, with collections that range from fossils at the American Museum of Natural History to modern masterworks at the Guggenheim. Here are some of the top exhibitions currently on view in New York City.

In 2009, the Guggenheim Museum celebrated the 50th anniversary of the completion of their iconic building, highlighted by a full-scale retrospective of works by abtract-painting pioneer Wassily Kandinsky (on view through 1/13). Home to one of the world’s finest collections of modern and contemporary art, including works by artists such as Monet, Picasso, and Pollock, other special exhibitions currently on view include the sculptural installation Anish Kapoor: Memory (through 3/28) and Tino Sehgal (opening 1/29), a “mise-en-scène” that will occupy the entire Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda.

The Upper West Side’s American Museum of Natural History is one of the greatest natural history museums in the world, with over 40 exhibition halls, highlighted by the Rose Center for Earth and Space, the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Hall of Human Origins, The Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites, and the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Also on view right now is the annual Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter exhibition, featuring 500 fluttering, iridescent butterflies among blooming tropical flowers and lush green vegetation in 80-degree temperatures.

The renowned Whitney Museum of American Art is home to one of the world’s greatest collections of 20th-century American art. The vast permanent collection includes paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations, drawings, prints, and photographs -- and is constantly expanding. Current special exhibitions include: Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction (through 1/17), which features more than 130 paintings, drawings, watercolors, and sculptures by the pioneering painter; Roni Horn aka Roni Horn (through 1/24); and Omer Fast: Nostalgia (through 2/14).