The Frick Collection
New York City is home to some of the most impressive art collections in the world. Each one has its own identity and significance, from the accomplishments of Neue Galerie to the many mesmerizing floors of the Guggenheim, there’s plenty to fall in love with.
It’s all right in the heart of the Upper East Side, conveniently just a short distance away from many luxury New York City condominiums, including 40 East End.
The Frick Collection is perhaps the most audacious of them all. From top to bottom, the Frick Collection has a unified theme of masterworks from some of the most innovative, provocative and ungoverned elite artists ever.
Henry Frick
As the name suggestions, the original collection was compiled by none other than industrialist Henry Frick, who was once the chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company.
Once Frick began amassing his collection, he began to collect art from esteemed masters of the craft. His collection was divided amongst his properties.
He willed his collection as a public museum upon his death in 1919. While it took years, this finally manifested in 1935.
Many of the highest-profile pieces were moved from Pittsburgh to the primary collection in New York City.
What Can You Find in the Frick Collection?
The permanent Frick Collection has a strong 18th-century European theme along with plentiful works from other centuries and regions.
The collection celebrates European excess in design, and features mesmerizing works from the elites like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Renoir.
While some of the numerous galleries have remained permanent mainstays, several are rotated out annually. The museum hosts many lectures and talks throughout the year, and classical musical concerts are regular staples of the event line-up.
Museum attendance is free on the first Friday of the month from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. It’s open to both nearby residents of East Side condos and those visiting from elsewhere.
You can find galleries featuring ceramics, furniture, sculptures, medals, life-sized paintings, rugs, textiles, gold clocks and even century-old papers.
The Collection
The collection consists of 19 different rooms or galleries. Highlights include oriental rugs, Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s masterpiece The Progress of Love and some truly astounding French furniture that elevate the ideals of excess and luxury.
Some of the most well-known and captivating pieces housed in the collection are Canova’s George Washington, a sculpture of George Washington in Roman garb by Antonio Canova, as well as a series of thirteen life-size paintings that depict figures from the Old Testament. The rotating exhibit hall gives you a new reason to visit from the nearby East Side condos multiple times over the year.
Pieces from the Venetian renaissance, Rembrandt’s Abraham Entertaining the Angels, and Joseph Mallord William Turner’s seafaring epics have all graced the floors of the Frick.
The Frick Collection is located at 1 East 70th Street, right outside many luxury East Side condos. It sits along the iconic Museum Mile, a mile-long stretch that houses some of New York City’s most impressive museum collections.
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