Museums & Exhibition Spaces
Besides world class collections, the museums also offer a range of excellent gallery talks and lectures which the visitor might consider attending.
The following listing appears in alphabetical order. Museums or Collections which the first time visitor should not miss are marked with ***.
Frick Collection
The Frick Collection includes superb paintings and sculptures by European artists from 1300-1900, eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelain, enamels, clocks, silver and other works of outstanding quality.
Exhibitions:
Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting
February 7 – May 13, 2012
A Passion for Drawings: Charles Ryskamp's Bequest to The Frick Collection.
February 14 – April 8, 2012
Location: 1 East 70th Street
New York, NY 10021 (map)
Guggenheim Museum***
 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was originally built to house Solomon R. Guggeheim`s collection of nonobjective art. The building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and was completed in 1959. The remarkable spiral design has not ceased to inspire discussions about architecture, design and art.
Meanwhile the Guggenheim collection has brought together several private collections of 19th and 20th century art and has grown into an international network of museums with offshoots in Bilbao, Venice, Berlin and Abu Dhabi.
Location: 1071 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10128-0173 (map)
Metropolitan Museum of Art***
 The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world's largest and most distinguished art museums. Its collections include more than two million works spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present with every part of the globe represented.
Several exhibitions are generally run in parallel, and the museum also provides guided tours, gallery talks, lectures, films and even concerts. Although visitors can just drop in and see what is on offer, they will make best use of their time if they plan their visit in advance.
Exhibitions:
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde. 28 February – 08 June 2012
Byzantium and Islam
Age of Transition
March 14 – July 8, 2012
Location: 1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028(map)
Museum of Modern Art, MoMA***
 The Museum inaugurated its new site in midtown Manhattan in 2004. Designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, the new building provides significantly more exhibition space to showcase MoMA's collection of modern and contemporary art, which is one of the most important in the world. The collection comprises outstanding works in all techniques - paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, drawings, videos.
A special highlight is the painting and sculpture collection with works by Constantin Brancusi, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti, Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Koning, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and many other illustrious names.
Location: 11 W 53rd St
New York, NY 10019 (map)
MoMA PS1
In 2010 the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA and the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center merged to form MoMA PS1 with an exhibition space in Long Island City devoted to the latest and most experimental contemporary art. MoMA PS1 hosts more than 50 exhibitions each year.
Location: 22-25 Jackson Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101 (map)
New Museum
The New Museum is dedicated entirely to contemporary art. Although the museum has a collection of its own, it is best known for mounting cutting-edge exhibitions of international contemporary art. The New Museum building in Bowery street, completed in 2007, was designed by the Tokyo-based firm of architects SANAA.
Location: 235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002 (map)
Whitney Museum of American Art
 The Whitney collection comprises 20th and 21st century American art. Particularly strongly represented are works of abstract expressionism, pop art and minimal art.
The Whitney museum also holds exhibitions with a focus on art by living artists and is widely renowned for hosting the Whitney Biennial - an exhibition dedicated to showcasing the latest movements in contemporary American art.
Exhibitions:
Diego Rivera: Murals for The Museum of Modern Art
November 13, 2011 – May 14, 2012
Cindy Sherman
February 26 – June 11, 2012
Location: 2945 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021 (map)
Private Collections
Gallery Areas
There are over 400 galleries in Manhattan, with almost half of them located in Chelsea between West 20th and 26th street (map).
The image, taken on West 22nd street, shows a row of galleries on ground floor level. Ground floor galleries are the most prestigious and can have very spacious show rooms. Most of The upper floors are also occupied by galleries. |
