Tag: NYC museums

The Met Cloisters

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One of the wonderful things about traveling in Europe is the ability to explore ancient cathedrals and monasteries, experiencing extraordinary art and architecture from long ago. New York City is fortunate in that we can have that experience just a short subway ride, or express bus, away. The Cloisters is a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and provides immersion into the art, architecture, and gardens of medieval Europe.

The Cloisters is in upper Manhattan, between Washington Heights and Inwood. If you have a car, you can drive there, and there is parking available. However, you can also get there via subway on the A train -getting off at Dyckman – on on the express bus BxM1 – getting off at Dyckman and Sherman – or by taking the regular M4 bus to the last stop. For all of these options except the M4 bus, you will face a ten minute hike up a winding path to get to the museum, which sits on the top of quite a steep hill. The M4 bus lets you off at the top of the hill, and the Met does have a shuttle bus to get people up the hill who can’t handle the hike; you just might need to wait a bit. The walk, if you are able, is pleasant and provides some lovely views of the Hudson river.

If you have already visited the main Met location that day, you can use the same ticket to visit the Cloisters at no extra cost. If you are only planning to visit the Cloisters, ticket prices can be found here, and note that New York State residents with valid ID can pay what you wish. The idea that “time in this place does not obey an order’ is immediately apparent – as soon as you enter the building, you are immersed in the past. The museum specializes in European medieval art and architecture, with a focus on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Its large collection of medieval artworks are displayed within the architectural settings of French monasteries and abbeys. The building is centered around four medieval cloisters—the Cuxa, Saint-Guilhem, Bonnefont, and Trie-sur-Baïse—that were acquired by American sculptor and art dealer George Grey Barnard in France before 1913 and moved to New York. Barnard’s collection was bought for the museum by John D. Rockefeller Jr., while additional major sources of objects came from the collections of J. P. Morgan and Joseph Brummer.

The museum’s building was designed by the architect Charles Collens, and has upper and lower levels. It contains medieval gardens at the center, and a series of chapels and themed galleries, including the Romanesque, Fuentidueña, Unicorn, Spanish, and Gothic rooms. The design, layout, and ambiance of the building are intended to evoke a sense of medieval European monastic life.

The best known works include the Early Netherlandish Mérode Altarpiece from about 1422 AD and the Flemish The Unicorn Tapestries (c. 1495–1505).

The museum’s collection of illuminated books is small but of exceptional quality. J.P. Morgan, a major early donor whose taste leaned heavily towards rare printed and illuminated books, donated most of his collection to the Morgan Library in midtown. However, there are some remarkable illuminated manuscripts at the Cloisters.

The Cloisters often has special exhibitions, and when I visited they had a very thought-provoking one called Spectrum of Desire, about love, sex, and gender in the Middle Ages. However, it’s about to close as I publish this post at the end of March of 2026.

Upon its opening on May 10, 1938, the Cloisters was described as a collection “shown informally in a picturesque setting, which stimulates imagination and creates a receptive mood for enjoyment.” Almost a century later, I would say that this description remains true. I highly recommend a trip to the Cloisters as a way to escape the noise and overstimulation that NYC can often provide, with the unique environment enabling moments of quiet reflection.

The Frick Collection: Reopening after Renovation

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The Frick Collection, on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is a special jewel box of a museum in a city rich with fabulous places to appreciate art. The Henry Clay Frick mansion, designed in 1914 by Carrère and Hastings in the Beaux-Arts style, was converted to a museum to house Frick’s art collection in 1920 after his death. Henry Frick had personally collected a vast array of art, including works by artists as renowned and diverse as Bellini, Degas, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, El Greco, Holbein, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, and Whistler. What is truly unique, though, is the display of the art within the cohesive and lush interiors of the mansion. The Frick Collection recently underwent an extensive renovation by Annabelle Selldorf and her team at Selldorf Architects, and has added an auditorium, education room, and cafe, while leaving the essential nature of this unique experience intact. I was fortunate enough to be invited to Member Preview Days by a patron (the museum opens for all April 17, 2025, check for tickets here) and was thoroughly transported by my visit.

I was fortunate enough to be able to go the first day the museum held member previews (April 9) thanks to this patron, and we went first thing upon opening to avoid crowds. I would recommend this strategy if you are able. The entrance area was open and easy to navigate thanks to the renovation. There is a coat check and bathrooms downstairs (and quite some stairs! a new grand cantilevered staircase made of veined Breccia Aurora marble), and the new cafe and gift shop above. The second floor rooms in the mansion, once bedrooms, are smaller and I recommend going to them first before the museum gets more crowded if you are first in.

The experience of being in the mansion and the way art is displayed (rather than white plain backgrounds, the walls are covered in hand-woven French silk damask and velvet in sumptuous colors) makes entering each room like becoming part of a new little immersive world.

In almost every room there were lifelike porcelain flowers by contemporary artist Vladimir Kanevsky. Designed to look like real floral displays set up in the collection when it first opened to the public in the 1930s, these flowers are on display through October 6.

Downstairs rooms are larger, as they were public rooms and many specifically designed to display Frick’s art. The beautiful central courtyard has been restored so that the fountain once again works as designed.

In the center of the mansion, the original grand staircase showcases the ornate organ installed.

The location of the Frick Collection right across from Central Park, means that views from the rooms often highlight stunning views of nature to complement the interior art. Seeing the Collection as spring trees extravagantly bloom made many views out of the windows rival that of the stunning art within.

In the evening, I was fortunate enough to attend a member’s reception through the generosity of the same patron. It was much more crowded in the evening, so I preferred the morning experience overall. I was struck, however, with how the quality of the light at sunset changed the look of some rooms in the mansion. To truly appreciate the collection, I think it is important to come multiple times, and at different times of day, as this museum is a part of its urban environment, not insulated from it.

The new gift shop was tempting (see photos above).

To live in New York City is to enjoy almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to experiencing art – visual art, music, theatre, and dance. The Frick Collection stands alone with its singular blend of the exceptional quality of the art itself, and the immersive environment enabling you to see this art within such splendid surroundings. Make a pilgrimage there when you can to feed your soul – and go back as often as you are able to see it change with the time of day and the seasons. Thanks to this renovation, the Frick Collection will be ready to welcome us for decades to come.