Inside New York’s World-Class Museums
Guggenheim Museum New York City
Let’s be honest, museums and galleries are not to everyone’s taste when it comes down to spending the holidays. And if you think museums are boring and dull, that’s because you haven’t seen those in New York. They are places filled with immense treasures and wells of inspiration at the same time. With 200 museums and 500 galleries, the city is packed with cultural institutions and is home to the best museums and galleries in the world. It would be a shame not to see at least one or two of them.
There are parts of Manhattan, from the Upper to the Lower East Side that are own by museums, and whole neighbourhoods like Chelsea and SoHo, dedicated to smaller galleries. I’ve never seen a bigger range of brilliant niche galleries, reaching from Asian, Hispanic and Middle Eastern art to cutting-edge contemporary ones. They are all to be found here. While Corona has changed the cultural experience forever, let’s have a look at the museums I managed to glance through on my visit to New York City, with many already reopening its doors to visitors this spring.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art - The MET
The Charles Engelhard Court at the MET, New York
Situated at No. 1000 Fifth Avenue and next to Central Park, for nearly a century and a half, the MET - as it is also called, has literally remained the top address of New York’s cultural life. With an extensive permanent collection, containing over 2 million pieces, and innovative exhibitions, featuring superstars of the contemporary art scene, it offers great discoveries beyond the beautiful Beaux-Arts façade and the Charles Engelhard Court at its heart. As if being a great museum isn't enough, the MET is also a research center with countless libraries and archives that welcomes an international community of students and scholars.
Me in front of the Temple of Denur, a 2000 - year old Egyption Temple at the MET New York
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Guggenheim Museum is a masterpiece of modern architecture. Its unique shape with its rotunda and organic lines stands in stark contrast to the steel-and-glass high rises surrounding it. It was no other than the influential architect Frank Lloyd Write who gave the museum its stamp, adding another landmark to the city. The open space and three-dimensional structure inside the museum with a spiral ramp, leading form one exhibition floor to the next, broke with the traditional museum layout, allowing visitors to see the art works form different angles and levels. The innovative character of this 20th century’s building was perfect to house Guggenheim’s modern art collection, which includes work from Claude Monet, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, Vasily Kandinsky, the famous Pablo Picasso and many more.
Museum of Modern Art - MoMa
View to the Sculpture Garden, MoMa New York
When the MoMa was founded in 1929 there was something revolutionary about it. It was America's first museum devoted entirely to modern art and the first to showcase European modernism. Those were new impulses and innovations that should wake up America's lagging art scene at the time. It quickly rose to international fame in the following decades and is one of the most influential museums of modern art in the world today. The MoMa as you know now, was a result of a major makeover during 2002 and 2004. In addition to the classic exhibition areas for paintings and sculptures, drawings, photography, architecture, film and design, the MoMA also has a sculpture and roof garden. While the roof garden is considered as an artwork itself, which cannot be entered by the public but only viewed, the sculpture garden is very much accessible to everyone. Brows through the gallery below to see the most distinguished pieces at the MoMa.
American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History New York, Main Entrance
If you've always wanted to see dinosaurs or a blue whale in life-size, then you’ll definitely getting served here. Being one of the largest of its kind, the American Museum of Natural History covers all aspects of the natural world, from a collection of taxidermy mammals to depictions of the life of Native American tribes. It was also the filming site the trilogy of Night at the Museum. I’m sure your kids will love it.
Life-size dinosaur at the American Museum of Natural History, New York
Life-size blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History, New York