Best of Boston

2015 Best Museum, West

Rose Art Museum

Six years ago, Brandeis University feared the recession would shutter its art museum. Thankfully, a public outcry and powerful art collectors reversed that plan, and the school hired a new director, Christopher Bedford, to add to the museum’s collections. The Rose has always excelled at midcentury abstract expressionism and pop art, and recently fleshed out its contemporary and African-American holdings. Today, it’s among the most expansive university-run modern-art museums in the U.S.

415 South St., Waltham, 781-736-3434, brandeis.edu/rose