Whitney Museum of American Art

Whitney Museum of American Art Review

With its bold collection of 20th- and 21st-century and contemporary American art, this museum presents an eclectic mix drawn from more than 18,000 works in its permanent collection. The museum was originally a gallery in the studio of sculptor and collector Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose talent and taste were accompanied by the money of two wealthy families. In 1930, after the Met turned down Whitney's offer to donate her collection of 20th-century American art, she established an independent museum in Greenwich Village. Now uptown, the minimalist gray-granite building opened in 1966 and was designed by Marcel Breuer and Hamilton Smith.

Highlights

Start your visit on the fifth floor, where the galleries house rotating exhibitions of postwar and contemporary works from the permanent collection by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, Chuck Close, Cindy Sherman, and Roy Lichtenstein.

Although the collection on display constantly changes, notable pieces often on view include Hopper's Early Sunday Morning (1930), Bellows's Dempsey and Firpo (1924), Alexander Calder's beloved Circus, and several of Georgia O'Keeffe's dazzling flower paintings.

The lower floors feature exhibitions of contemporary artists such as Kara Walker and Gordon Matta-Clark as well as retrospective exhibitions that focus on movements and themes in American art.

The often-controversial Whitney Biennial, which showcases the most important developments in American art over the previous two years, takes place in the spring of even-numbered years.

Tips

After 6 pm on Friday the price of admission is pay-what-you-wish. On some of those nights the Whitney Live series presents new artists and reinterpretations of American classics. Be forewarned that this combination may result in long lines.