The Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is a collection of renowned paintings by Old Masters in a historic mansion all bequeathed by millionaire Henry Frick
A New York cultural gem, The Frick Collection allows visitors to step back to opulent Millionaire's Row during the Industrial Revolution. Housed in the neoclassical Fifth Avenue mansion of steel baron, Henry Clay Frick, The Frick Collection is one of the most renowned small art museums in the world.
Contrary to the fact that Mr. Frick has been vilified by history for ruthlessness in business dealings, even the earliest plans for the residence demonstrate his intention to bequeath the building and his art to establish a public gallery.
The collection is comprised of Old Master paintings including works by Constable, Goya, Manet, Monet, Rembrandt, Renoir, and Whistler and paintings, sculpture and décor from the Renaissance to the late 19th century with several special exhibitions annually. Designed to have the atmosphere of a private home rather than a public space, the Frick Collection offers visitors an intimate encounter with the exhibits with very few items encased in glass and many of the pieces in the same position as when they were first hung by the Fricks. In an effort to preserve both the accessibility to the artwork and the pieces themselves, The Frick Collection has a strict age restrictions for visitors; children under 10 are not permitted and individuals under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
A visit to the Frick Collection should take about two hours, but if you choose take advantage of one of the free audio tours which navigates several small, secluded rooms and offers a wealth of insight into the paintings, sculptures and furniture, a visit can easily take up to four hours.
Facts For Your Visit
Fee: YesFrick Collection Hours:
Opening hours may differ on holidays
- Monday: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Tuesday: Closed
- Wednesday: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Thursday: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Friday: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Saturday: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
- Sunday: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Address: 1 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021, USA
Phone: (212) 288-0700
Official Website: Frick Collection
Frick Collection Reviews
Rated out of 5![]()
An incredibly beautiful building, I couldn’t stop admiring the corridors and staircases. Every detail feels thoughtful and inspiring. The organ is absolutely stunning, and the way the galleries are designed to complement the paintings creates such a powerful atmosphere. Everything feels perfectly curated to enhance the art.
I also loved the bracelet system and the audio guide on the phone such a smart and modern touch that makes the whole experience even more immersive. Truly an unforgettable museum experience. Highly recommend!
Katsiaryna - 2 months ago
The Frick Collection is one of those New York spots that you should visit at least once.
Pro tip: book your ticket in advance. They will likely still let you in without one, but you may end up waiting in line for 45 to 60 minutes, and when you’re traveling, that’s time better spent exploring the city.
Everything here feels worth seeing, from the interiors and architecture to the natural light and the art collection itself. The whole experience feels elegant, peaceful, and beautifully curated.
Give yourself at least an hour to explore it properly. There is a lot to take in, and this is definitely not a place you want to rush through.
Frank Garcia - 3 months ago
We went just as it opened at 10:30am on a Saturday and there was already a line but we got in within 10 minutes. It’s a stunning property filled with beautiful art from paintings to ceramics and sculptures. The architecture was really impressive and loved that there was an outdoor part with greenery too.
Devi Bajaj - 4 weeks ago
The Frick Collection
Positioned along Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Streets, at the edge of Central Park, The Frick Collection occupies one of Manhattan’s most discreetly privileged addresses, a setting that already suggests restraint, confidence, and permanence. The museum’s $330 Million renovation, completed last spring, honors these qualities with uncommon sensitivity.
The transformation, led by Selldorf Architects, is a genuine cultural achievement. It expands the institution while deepening its intimacy, inviting visitors not simply to see more, but to see better, with time, space, and stillness working quietly in their favor.
The renovation adds roughly 30% more gallery space, a gracefully proportioned 218 seat auditorium, and access to previously closed rooms of the original mansion. These additions feel discovered rather than announced. Nothing proclaims itself. The Frick has grown, yet remains unmistakably itself.
A slender bridge of bronze and glass now connects the mansion and library, floating lightly between past and present, an elegant, almost whispered gesture that captures the renovation’s governing spirit. The space feels renewed, not replaced, preserving the essential character of a private home whose historical presence still quietly shapes every room.
Inside, the experience unfolds with unforced generosity. Gilbert Stuart’s commanding portrait of George Washington anchors the collection with quiet authority, while masterworks by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jean Honoré Fragonard, Johannes Vermeer, Hans Holbein the Younger, and Thomas Gainsborough appear not as trophies, but as residents. Renaissance and Impressionist paintings coexist effortlessly with sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts, all arranged within a cloister like mansion that favors contemplation over spectacle. Light drifts naturally from room to room. Walls breathe. Silence sharpens perception.
The architecture itself guides how art is experienced. In the long gallery, monumental canvases by Reynolds and his contemporaries command the space they require, their grandeur legible only at a distance that allows the eye to take in their full sweep and ambition. Upstairs, the second floor Impressionist galleries offer something entirely different. These are deliberately scaled spaces, cozy and intimate, designed to bring you close rather than hold you back. Works by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, Édouard Manet, and Pierre Auguste Renoir are encountered at human range, near enough to see brushwork, hesitation, and confidence laid bare. The contrast is intentional. Scale serves meaning. You don’t simply view the paintings. You live with them briefly, as their original owner once did.
The renovation also offers something increasingly rare in New York. A sense of pause. The restored garden provides a quiet refuge, manicured and serene, where the visit can settle and the mind reset. Nearby, the sunlit atrium draws daylight deep into the building, softening stone and lifting the atmosphere. The gentle sound of water in the atrium pool provides a calming undercurrent, a reminder that such tranquility exists because it is held within a city whose energy once attracted the captains of industry who built lives, collections, and palatial expressions of wealth devoted to beauty itself.
Even the logistics feel thoughtfully resolved. Members enter directly, bypassing timed entry lines that often stretch around the block, and express coat check ensures you’re viewing art almost as soon as you arrive. There’s no friction, no sense of being rushed. The visit begins calmly, already aligned with the Frick’s renewed rhythm.
Sterling Glen - 5 months ago
The art is amazing. 3 Vermeers, beautiful Rembrandt, Turners, Holbeins, etc. it’s a shame that the guest experience is ruined by the obnoxious guards and terrible rules against photography.
Why are photographs not allowed? To enhance the guest experience? You know what would enhance the experience, not having guards scream at people every 30 seconds not to take photographs. People break these rules because they don’t make sense, and because they’re not normal. Virtually every other museum in the US and Europe lets you take photos. I realize this is a private institution and they can make whatever rules they want, but this is a massive and important historic collection that you can’t see anywhere else. You shouldn’t have to act like James Bond to try to take a picture of a Vermeer.
Here are some photos that I took. Most of them when the paintings were in Pittsburgh two years ago.
Brian Planchard - 5 months ago
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Directions
| Subway Line | Nearest Station | Walking Time |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 68th Street | 7 minutes |
How to get to Frick Collection by Subway
Take the 6 train to 68th Street (Hunter College), walk west to 5th Avenue and then north to 70th Street.
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Photo Gallery
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Garden in the Frick Collection Museum cc licensed photo by thenestor -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: Olivier Bruchez - cc license via Flickr -
Photo Credit: massmatt - cc license via Flickr

