The Brooklyn Museum of Art
The Frick Museum
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Pierpont Morgan Library
The Guggenheim Museum
The Whitney Museum

 

The Brooklyn Museum of Art
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238
(718) 638-5000.

Just a 30-minute subway ride away from midtown Manhattan youıll find the world renowned Brooklyn Museum of Art. Founded in the early part of the 20th Century the museum is housed in a 560,000 square foot Beaux-Arts building designed by McKim, Mead and White. Over the years the museum has undergone various renovations and expansions making it one of the largest museums in the nation. The vast collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, one of the largest and most diverse in the states, include African Art, American Art, Asia and the Pacific, European painting and sculpture (including an enviable collection of Rodin sculptures) and one of the largest collections of Egyptian art outside of Egypt. In addition, the museumıs libraries and archives facilitating research in various areas of art including Egyptology comprise the fifth largest museum library in the nation. Those who have never been to the Museum before should plan on spending several hours. If necessary, take a break in the museumıs cafe and gift shop or check for special events taking place in the 460 seat auditorium.
www.brooklynmuseum.org
 

The Frick Museum, 1 East 70th Street
New York, NY 10021
(212) 288-0700

Facing fashionable Fifth Avenue with Central Park as its neighbor, the elegant Frick Collection is housed in a 19th Century mansion once the home of Henry Clay Frick. Built in 1910 to grand proportions scaling a full city block, this is one of a few palatial mansions remaining along Fifth Avenue that now serve the public as museums. Henry Clay Frick was a wealthy industrialist who amassed his financial fortune through the sale of steel producing coke to Andrew Carnegie and later through a partnership with Andrew Carnegie, which formed a company destined to become US Steel. Frick took pride in knowing that his elaborate mansion dwarfed the neighboring home of Andrew Carnegie. He lived in this home until his death at age 70. In 1935, a few years after the death of his wife, the house was opened to the public. The collection was curated by his only surviving daughter, Helen who shared his interest in the collection of fine art. The Frick Collection includes paintings by the most famous of European artists, major works of sculpture (among them one of the finest groups of small bronzes in the world), eighteenth-century French furniture and porcelains, Oriental rugs and period furniture. In addition to the permanent collection, several special exhibitions are scheduled throughout the year. For more information please visit: www.frick.org

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street
New York, NY 10028
(212) 535-7710

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is New York City's crown jewel of fine art. Numbering nearly two million pieces, this extraordinary collection includes art ranging from American decorative arts, American paintings, European paintings, pre-columbian art, Asian art, Africa, the Americas and Oceania, Egyptian artifacts, costumes, armor, Islamic art, Greek and Roman art and sculpture, modern and medieval, musical instruments and textiles. On April 20, 2007, The Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrated the reopening of its Greek and Roman Galleries. Museum visitors welcomed the return of thousands of classical artifacts. The newly reconstructed Leon Levy and Shelby White Court houses over 5,000 objects of Hellenistic, Etruscan and Roman art, including some never-before-seen pieces. Built on two levels, the gallery's main floor houses Hellenistic and Roman art while the mezzanine level, designed to overlook the splendid court, focuses on Etruscan art and also includes some Greek and Roman works. This area of the museum, originally built between 1912 and 1926, was part of the design of famed architectural firm McKim, Mead and White whose talents were also responsible for New York City's municipal building, Park Avenue's Racquet Club, Columbia University's Low Library, St Bartholomew Church, New York City's Penn Station, the Bowery Savings Bank and the Farley post office to name just a few. First used to exhibit Roman art, the area was later converted to a restaurant & cafeteria. By 1970, the museum board had developed a master plan for the renovation and reconstruction of various portions of the expansive museum. More specific plans drawn and approved in the 1990's confirmed that the reconstruction of the Greek and Roman Galleries would be included as part of this process. The design takes into consideration the vision of the original architects and maintains a classical feel. Its glass ceiling provides abundant natural light. Reintroduced in stages over the past ten years, the unveiling of the Levy Court now completes the museum's display of Greek and Roman Art. Handy floor plans are available to help you navigate your way through this massive complex. Gift shops and cafes are located in various parts of the Museum, including some that offer a view of Central Park.www.metmuseum.org

 

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
11 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 708-9400

New York City already known as the museum capital of the world has, in recent years, witnessed a surge in museum expansions, renovations and relocations. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) set the pattern in motion back in 2002 by shutting its doors for nearly three years to allow for a massive expansion, that has now been completed. The successful expansion provides much needed gallery space to display a larger portion of the museum's permanent collection that was heretofore kept in storage. In the mid to late 1920s wealthy New York patrons, among them Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr., saw the need to create a venue that would focus on contemporary art. In 1929 an initial donation of a small number of prints and drawings resulted in the establishing of the Museum of Modern Art. Over its 75 year history, MoMA has grown to the point where it now encompasses 150,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints photographs and other objects that in a unique and innovative manner exemplify contemporary or modern style. Its current size, nearly twice that of its original size prior to the expansion, allows it directors to pursue their two-fold mission of being the foremost museum of modern art in the world and providing educational programs and facilities. Perhaps the museums greatest accomplishments in recent years is the successful redesign, by Japanese architect, Yoshio Taniguchi that combines new structures with those already existing to create a unified structure that is definitively modern and embodies the energy of New York City. The museum's new look is perhaps its best example of modern art.

 

Pierpont Morgan Library,
225 Madison Avenue (@ 36th St.)
New York, NY 10016
(212) 685-0008

In 2007 Pierpont Morgan Library, a museum dedicated to paintings, period furnishings and manuscripts reopened following a three year expansion project. The project's mission was to expand both exhibit and storage space, to integrate the new elements into the existing structure and surrounding buildings and, to maintain the elegance and intimacy that typify the Morgan. To accomplish this feat the museum chose Italian architect Renzo Piano for his expertise in museum design. Now completed, the expansion almost doubles the exhibit space, creates a state-of-the-art performance auditorium, connects the various arteries of the new and existing structures via a central glass-enclosed courtyard and introduces a new and welcoming main entrance facing Madison Avenue. Visitors also benefit from a new reading room enhanced with electronic resources. The elegant brownstone that today houses the museum dates back to the late 18th century. The home was purchased in 1882 by Pierpont Morgan, a wealthy financier who was a descendant of several generations of illustrious philanthropists whose contributions including the founding of Yale University, the Aetna insurance company, US Steel and J.P. Morgan investment house. Several rooms from the home are in tact and viewable by the public, including an elaborate library used by Pierpont Morgan.
www.morganlibrary.org
 

The Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (@ 89th St.)
New York, NY 10028
(212) 423-3500


In the mid 1940s Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design what would remain to this day one of New York City's most celebrated architectural landmarks, the Guggenheim Museum. After long deliberation Wright concluded on Fifth Avenue as the best location hoping that its proximity to Central Park would offer salvation from what he considered an overbuilt and overpopulated city. The parcel of land on Fifth Avenue between 89th and 90th Streets was purchased and construction began on an innovative design that is considered to be one of Frank Lloyd Wright's best accomplishments.As a wealthy industrialist Solomon Guggenheim was able to acquire a collection of non-objective paintings by artists such as Kandinsky. His earliest acquisitions were hung in his New York City apartment at the Plaza Hotel. As his collection grew he opened a Museum for Non-objective Paintings, which moved various times before finding its permanent home in the Frank Lloyd Wright building. Upon his death in 1959 the museum was renamed the Guggenheim in honor of its founder.Today, in addition to the permanent collection, the Guggenheim sponsors a year round calendar of special exhibitions that showcase art from all parts of the world.
www.guggenheim.org
 

The Whitney Museum
945 Madison Avenue (@ 75th Street)
New York, NY 10021
(212) 570-3600
Founded in 1931 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney with 700 works from her personal collection. In the twenty years that followed, Mrs. Whitney continued to purchase art by artists that she considered to be revolutionary or realists. The works were purchased and then donated to the fledgling museum. The Whitney now houses over 12,000 objects of art including paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography and multi-media. Following Mrs. Whitney's death in 1942 a group of supporters and philanthropists called Friends of the Whitney was founded to ensure the institution's continued growth. Today, the museum holds one of the finest collections of American art including works by such artists as Hopper, OıKeefe, Max Webber, DeKooning, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Calder. The museumıs current home on Madison Avenue is its third location. The building designed by Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer is a massive and unconventional granite structure that epitomizes the museum's focus on art that is forceful and unprecedented.www.whitney.org