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New York: Art Museums, Manhattan — Elsewhere

Overview | Manhattan – Museum Mile (5th Avenue) | Manhattan – Elsewhere | Outer Boroughs

New York Art Museums: Art Museums in Manhattan

In New York, you can see great modern art at the MOMA, great Medieval art at the Cloisters – and a lot more of everything else. Below are our New York Art Museum recommendations, with information on location, ticket prices, transportation/parking, museum history and other points of interest.


Asia Society and Museum

The Asia Society is a leading global and pan-Asian organization that works to improve relations among the people and institutions of the United States and Asia. While it works in fields including policy, business and education, the Society also maintains a robust museum.

The museum’s main collection is from the estate of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, and includes many master works of Asian art that date from the 11th …more…

Cloisters Museum and Gardens

A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters is located at the far northern tip of Manhattan. Consisting of a focused collection of medieval European art, it is located in a building that incorporates elements of French medieval cloisters. The space includes an enclosed garden with horticulture grown according to that period.

The museum has access to thousands of works …more…

Frick Collection

The Frick Collection is housed in the neo-Classical mansion built by Henry Clay Frick in 1913–14. Set back from Fifth Avenue by an elevated garden and guarded by three large magnolia trees, the estate is an art sanctuary. Inside are 16 galleries filled with masterpieces of Western painting, sculpture, and decorative art, including portraits by Rembrandt and Valésquez, exceptional 18th-century …more…

Goethe-Institut New York/German Cultural Center

Founded in Germany as a successor to the Deutsche Akademie (German Academy), the Goethe-Institut (GI) has for six decades championed the appreciation of German language and culture across the globe. GI is named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famed German poet and polymath known best as the author of the Faust legend. It has branches in major cities throughout Europe, as well …more…

Hispanic Society of America Museum and Library

The Hispanic Society has one of the best collections of Spanish art that can be found outside of Spain. Its holdings also encompass art from Portugal and Latin America. The collection is divided into archaeology, decorative arts, paintings, sculpture and textiles. It includes more than 800 paintings and 6,000 watercolors and drawings.

Collection highlights include Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida’s After the Bath, Goya’s The Duchess of Alba, El Greco’s St. Jerome, …more…

International Center of Photography (ICP)

The ICP is a comprehensive organization (including a museum, school and research center) dedicated to the study and perpetuation of photography as an important cultural medium. Concerned first with fostering a wider appreciation for photography, the Institute presents exhibitions (over 500 in ICP history) and offers numerous workshops, classes and public outreach programs.

Over 100,000 images are contained in the …more…

Morgan Library & Museum

This institution began as the private library of financier Pierpont Morgan, one of the country’s most esteemed collectors and cultural benefactors. Around 1890, Morgan began collecting illuminated, literary and historical manuscripts; early printed books; and Old Master drawings and prints. Those items would become the foundation of this institution’s collection. The objects are housed in an early 1900s …more…

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

The Museum of Modern Art’s newly re-designed building (by architect Yoshio Taniguchi) opened in November 2004. Situated in midtown Manhattan near Rockefeller Center and across the street from the American Folk Art Museum, the building uses imaginative materials, a creative application of light, and modern spaces to house its permanent collection and touring exhibitions. ...more...

New Museum of Contemporary Art

Originally founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, the New Museum originally presented exhibitions at the New School. It has gone through several incarnations since moving to its first freestanding building in 2007. The institution is as well known for its building as it is for the art it contains. Its architects, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the firm SANAA, …more…

New York Historical Society

The Society is an educational and research institution that houses both the city’s oldest museum and a celebrated, independent research library. It was founded in 1804, and its collections cover 400 years of American history with a focus on New York City and State. The Henry Luce III Center displays 40,000 objects from the Society’s collection.

The permanent collection is divided …more…

New York Public Library (NYPL)

One of the iconic architectural edifices in America, this 1911 Beaux Arts masterwork the houses the main branch of the New York Public Library should be a requirement for every tourist to see. Within are an astounding 2,800,000 pictures, 6,000,000 books, and 12,000,000 manuscripts. Moreover, the library is one of the few truly quiet niches in New York City, so time spent …more…

Rubin Museum of Art (RMA)

Dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions, the Rubin Museum of Art opened its doors in October 2004. Located in a former Barneys in Chelsea, the building boasts 25,000 square feet of exhibition space, while preserving the original six-story spiral staircase (famously featured in “Sex and the City”).

More than 1,000 objects are displayed, including paintings, sculpture, and …more…

The Studio Museum in Harlem (SMiH)

The Studio Museum in Harlem (SMiH) was established in 1968 in a rented loft space on Fifth Avenue, with a mission to promote the work of contemporary artists of African descent. Since, the Museum has nurtured the development of nearly 100 promising artists through its Artist Residency program.

The SMiH permanent collection features the work of those artists, as well as …more…

Whitney Museum of American Art

If you can time your visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art during its annual and biennial exhibitions, you’ll take in the tradition (since 1932) of showcasing recent contemporary art from the most important living and working artists of the time. Over the decades, the Whitney has purchased many works for its collection from young and relatively unknown artists …more…