New York is especially rich in museum holdings of art, for every aesthetic and intellectual taste.
The city is home to some of the world’s finest examples of Ancient, Old Master, Impressionist, Modern and bleeding-edge contemporary works. To help you find the exact sort of edification you are looking for, we have compiled this list of New York’s very best art museums.
1. Brooklyn Museum
This 560.000-square-foot venue made history as the first American museum to exhibit African objects as artwork. In addition to the more than 4.000 items in the Egyptian holdings, museumgoers can scope pieces by masters such as Cézanne, Monet and Degas, and an entire center devoted to feminist art. The venue is the permanent home of Judy Chicago’s massive installation The Dinner Party. Beyond its physical acquisitions, the spot draws crowds with its BrooklyNites Jazz music series.
2. Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) features cutting edge examples of ceramics, furniture design, fiber art and metalsmithing, all involving “processes ranging from the artisanal to the digital”. As a result, MAD often mounts some of the liveliest shows of contemporary art around.
3. Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
You could spend a day getting lost in the priceless pieces from renowned artists. But just as essential are this museum’s other elements, including an attached cinema that combines art-house fare and more accessible offerings, a sculpture garden with works by Picasso and Rodin, and the Modern, a high-end restaurant and bar run by Danny Meyer.
4. New Museum of Contemporary Art
New Museum marks a major contribution to the continuing revitalization of downtown Manhattan. The bold seven-story building, designed by the cutting-edge Tokyo architectural firm Sejima + Nishizawa/SANAA, opened in December 2007, housing three main gallery levels, a theater, a café. The focus here is on emerging media and surveys of important but under-recognized artists.
