Comments Ian Wardropper, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director, “While the Frick has successfully maintained contact with audiences locally, nationally, and around the globe through our thought-provoking digital programs since having to close last March, we have greatly missed the direct, in-person interactions with the public. We are looking forward to sharing our collections again in person, reframed in a setting that has inspired fresh perspectives.”
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Marcel Breuer building.
New York — The Frick Collection announced Tuesday that it will open the doors to Frick Madison, its temporary new home, on Thursday, March 18, 2021. Located at the Breuer-designed building at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street, former site of the Met Breuer and the Whitney Museum of American Art, Frick Madison will welcome visitors Thursday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Timed entry tickets will need to be purchased in advance, with online sales beginning February 19. The Frick Collection will operate Frick Madison for approximately two years while its historic buildings on East 70th Street undergo renovation. This temporary relocation enables the Frick to provide public access to its celebrated collections during a time when the museum and library would otherwise be closed. Details about member previews and a virtual press preview will be shared in the coming weeks.
Courtesy of The Frick Collection. Photo by Joe Coscia.
Jean -Honoré Fragonard, Detail of The Progress of Love- Love Letters, 1771 –72. Oil on canvas. The Frick Collection, New York.
In a departure from the institution’s customary domestic presentation style, Frick Madison offers the public the opportunity to experience highlights from the collection organized chronologically and by region. Presented over three floors, the Frick Madison installation features treasured paintings and sculptures by Bellini, Clodion, Gainsborough, Goya, Holbein, Houdon, Ingres, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velázquez, Verrocchio, Vermeer, Whistler, and many others, alongside impressive holdings in the decorative arts.
Rarely displayed works include important seventeenth-century Mughal carpets and long-stored canvases from the famed series The Progress of Love by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, to be shown together in its entirety for the first time in the Frick’s history. The installation also debuts new acquisitions in several media. A reading room is available by appointment for researchers and others who use the rich art historical resources of the Frick Art Reference Library.
Courtesy of The Frick Collection. Photo by Michael Bodycomb.
Johannes Vermeer, Mistress and Maid, ca. 1666–67. Oil on canvas. The Frick Collection, New York.
Frick Madison will be open four days a week, Thursday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The health and safety of our visitors are of the utmost importance, and all measures in place are in keeping with federal guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and New York State and City. The occupancy of the museum’s galleries will be capped at 25%. A light menu of refreshments and snacks, offered by Joe Coffee, will be available during museum hours, with seating outdoors.
A printed guide is available free of charge. Visitors may also enhance their experience with a new curator-led audio guide available on the Bloomberg Connects App, using their own phones rather than borrowed devices. This free downloadable guide, launched in June 2020, is available now and updated monthly with new content.
For global audiences, the Frick will remain active online. Its popular weekly video series Cocktails with a Curator, which had more than one million views in 2020, has been extended, and new episodes debut weekly on Fridays at 5:00 p.m. through April 2. The museum continues to schedule visits online for schools and small groups, with in-person programming at Frick Madison anticipated to be added later in 2021. Additional virtual and in-person programs will be announced in the coming months.
Courtesy of The Frick Collection. Photo by Joe Coscia.
In the lobby of Frick Madison, Aimee Ng, Curator, and Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator.
The Frick Collection provides visitors with an unparalleled opportunity for intimate encounters with one of the world’s foremost collections of European fine and decorative arts. The collection originated with Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919), who bequeathed his Gilded Age mansion, paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts to the public for their enjoyment. The institution’s holdings, which encompass masterworks from the Renaissance through the early modern period, have grown over the decades, more than doubling in size since the opening of the museum in 1935. Among these complementary acquisitions are many public favorites. A critical component of the institution is the Frick Art Reference Library, founded one hundred years ago by Helen Clay Frick, daughter of the museum’s founder. It is today recognized as one of the top resources of its kind in the world. The Frick’s buildings on East 70th and East 71st streets are temporarily closed for renovation.
