The Frick Collection is back this month after a five-year, $220 million renovation that nearly doubled its gallery footprint — with restored home furnishings and added never-before-seen works of art.
“This is going to be a unique opportunity to see new spaces, more works of art, great new areas of the collection and to understand the house as a whole in a much, much better way,” said Xavier Salomon, deputy director and Peter Jay Sharp chief curator at the Frick Collection.
The Gilded Age mansion-turned-art museum, which first opened 90 years ago, has been refreshed for the first time with accessibility upgrades, 10 new galleries and upgraded lighting to view the collection’s Vermeer, Velazquez, Rembrandt and Goya works.
The spot reopens to the public April 17, but is offering members preview days on April 9 and 13.
“This is a unique museum: it’s unique for New York … [and] it’s unique for the world,” Solomon said. “It’s the house of someone who lived at the end of the 19th, early 20th century, with an incredible collection, top quality, and everything has been preserved, more or less intact.”
The mansion’s second floor – originally Henry Clay Frick’s family residence – is now restored, complete with antique furniture and décor like velvet curtains and loom-spun wall coverings.
The second-floor expansion will also allow visitors to view more works in the collection than ever before, nearly doubling the amount of 14th to 19th century art shown from 25% to 47% of the Frick Collection, according to Heidi Rosenau, director of communications for the collection.
The spruce-up was nearly a century in the making, with it quickly becoming apparent after the spot’s 1935 opening that it was running out of space, the spokesperson said.
“Over time, it became clear that we had deferred a number of projects, and it felt right in the last 15 years,” Rosenau said, noting other renovations from skylight replacement in the grand West Gallery to an expansion of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium.
“Now it’s designed for the 21st century.”
Rosenau said most of the paintings didn’t require any thorough deep-cleans because of routine maintenance the museum already provided – but the new lighting makes all the difference.
“One of the ways the Fricks displayed their paintings was with picture lights, so it was important to us aesthetically to have picture lights on,” Rosenau said. “Each [painting] is painstakingly lit – it was tricky, you don’t want glare – so we also added pixi-lights to the original chandeliers to give additional light.”
Some of the temporary exhibitions visitors will be able to view in the new light include “Highlights of Drawings” from April 17 to Aug. 11, “Vermeer’s Love Letters” from June 18 to Sept. 8, and Kanevsky’s porcelain flowers — an homage to the fresh floral bouquets displayed in the museum when it first opened — through Oct. 6.
General admission will start at $30 – which represents the first price increase in a decade, up from $22 before the renovation. Discounts will be available for students, seniors and military service members. Admission is free for visitors between 10 and 18 years old.
Children under 10 are not permitted inside the museum – largely due to the amount of priceless art and furniture uniquely displayed without any glass barriers or velvet ropes.
“What Frick wanted was to create an institution where people can be up close with art and enjoying it on their own terms,” she said.
“It’s about engaging with the art … and reaching New York in a better, welcoming way.”
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