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The Frick (NYC) is back!

We just visited the newly re-opened Frick museum in NYC on Wed. and I thought I'd pass along a few tips for anyone planning to do the same.

Advance, timed-entry reservations: Get them! It could be because it was a Pay-what-you-wish Wednesday but the line for people hoping to get in on standby tickets was very long. We were happy we'd booked a time slot although....

....even with a designed time slot you may not be getting in at exactly the time you booked. Because of the somewhat limited size of the museum, some bodies need to leave before others can be admitted. We were 2nd in line for the 2:00 time we'd booked, arrived well before that slot, and had been waiting in the hot sun for some time before they let the first 10 booked for that slot in. No idea how long the many others behind that first 10 had to stand around but, well, you could have a longer wait than planned for.

Photography: They are very strict about the no-photos rule. Not an issue for us but eagle-eyed guards sternly reprimanded abusers.

Information about the collection: Bring your phones and Airpods or similar! Some of the art has informative placards but others have numbers tied to the excellent free "Bloomberg Connects" mobile guide. You can easily download it when you arrive or in advance here:
https://www.frick.org/explore

Gift shop: it's small and so entry is controlled: there was a bodies-out-bodies-in line that I passed up.

A wee fun thing I happened to notice: Adelaide Frick’s newly restored boudoir (called The Boucher Room) is lined with amusing panels of chubby cherubs participating in the arts and sciences. At one end of the room is "Bust of a Young Girl":
https://collections.frick.org/objects/91/bust-of-a-young-girl?ctx=d7ad48eab9545d27eb3aa494d9cb7b00348fbe36&idx=78

If you look at the Boucher panel just to the right of the sculpture, you'll see an illustrated sculptor cherub admiring that same bust which he'd just completed. :O)
https://collections.frick.org/objects/49/the-arts-and-sciences-painting-and-sculpture?ctx=18a78729d0722b4975c2b6a9f14e828e52f601de&idx=14

Wow: two valuable Holbein portraits: Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More. They're hung facing each other in the same room in a bit of poignancy as the one gentleman tried to save the other from the block before eventually being relieved of his own noggin.

2nd wow + a disappointment: three (yes THREE) very rare Vermeers in the collection but one of them, "Mistress and Maid"; the last work that Frick acquired before he died, was apparently traveling.

Wonderful collection; highly recommended!

Posted by
2208 posts

Thanks for sharing. I haven't been here for years, but will put it at the top of the list for a future trip. I particularly appreciate your detail on some of the treasured paintings you saw. 3 Vermeers (sometimes) is a really large number when there are so few known to exist.

Posted by
1059 posts

I love the Frick, especially the Vermeers. I hope to go again soon.

Posted by
746 posts

Thanks Kathy for the update. I’m heading to NYC on Friday. I’m a member of the Frick and can’t wait to see the building updates and all the art back where it belongs. The Mistress and Maid is going to be displayed with a mini Vermeer exhibition the Frick is showing June 18-September 8. They will have one painting from the Rijksmuseum and one from the National Gallery of Ireland and their painting. They are all women writing letters. A trip to NYC can get you the opportunity to view 8 Vermeers, this trip it will be 10!

Posted by
17244 posts

Ah, so that's where the missing Vermeer was! I've seen the Met's fine collection, although we didn't make it to the 5th Ave. museum again on this trip; finally made it to the Cloisters instead.

Posted by
7056 posts

Thank you so much for this helpful post. I will be visiting The Frick next month, so this is very timely. There have been so many interesting articles in the New York Times regarding the renovation and (relatively recent) reopening, so I really look forward to seeing it.

I also appreciate the link from the first poster regarding The Frick's "Cocktails with a Curator" YouTube series; I will check it out, looks very interesting!