THE FRICK COLLECTION

Opened to the public in 1932, this house bears no resemblance to the idea of a traditional museum. Perhaps that's why New Yorkers love the Frick Collection, the dream come true of Pittsburgh steel magnate Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), who wanted to leave posterity with the image of a modern American patron willing to offer fortunes for the works of art he wished to acquire at any cost. A patron of the arts, but also a fierce anti-unionist, Frick was responsible for the massacre of the Homestead Steel workers. He devoted a large part of his immense fortune and 40 years of his life to purchasing the wonders that hang on the walls of his opulent home, built in 1913 on 5th Avenue, opposite Central Park.

The house features 19 rooms furnished in ^18th-century English and French styles. 1,100 first-rate pieces: all works by great masters, and often among the finest, if not the most personal. Bellini, Boucher, Bruegel, Chardin, David, Delacroix, Degas, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, El Greco, Ingres, Lawrence, Lorrain, Manet, Monet, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, de La Tour, Van Dyck, Van Eyck, Velázquez, Vermeer, Tiepolo, Titian, Véronèse, Watteau, Whistler.. In the west gallery (the richest), two remarkable Turners face each other, and a Rembrandt self-portrait and his enigmatic Polish Cavalier are placed side by side. Pell-mell include four very fine paintings by the American painter Whistler, an astonishing Bronzino, Titian's Portrait of the Aretinus and Holbein the Younger's Portrait of Sir Thomas More. In every room, admire the French-style furniture and oriental carpets, which may appear to be part of the décor, but are in fact objets d'art in their own right. You'll certainly want to take a seat in the glass-roofed garden, where, lulled by the murmur of the fountain, you can savor the peace of this oasis of fine art. A new gallery houses permanent exhibitions of works from the collection and from other museums. This small gallery is accessed via a spiral staircase just outside the entrance hall.

The museum is currently undergoing major renovations and is not accessible. Part of the collection was temporarily on display in the former Met Breuer, at 945 Madison Avenue, but this has not been the case since March 2024. From now on, we'll have to wait until the end of 2024 to see the Frick - in its new form - back in its historic premises.