Visit the Whitney Museum in New York: tickets, prices, schedules

Are you lucky to spend a few days in New York? Don’t miss visiting the Whitney Museum of American Art, the American Art Museum!

New York is a well-known city for its museums such as MET, MoMA and Guggenheim. The Whitney Museum of American Art, commonly known as The Whitney, is not the most famous museum in New York. He's probably not on your list of things to do in New York. And yet, at the foot of the High Line , he deserves a visit.

The huge permanent collection houses 21,000 works of more than 3,000 artists! Visitors discover throughout their journey the influences on American art since 1900 through paintings, sculptures, engravings, films and photographs.

Uncontournable, the Whitney Museum becomes a classic cultural stage during a stay in the Big Apple. To make you want to visit the Whitney Museum of American Art, we have gathered in a mini-guide all the essential information: historic venue, attractions not to be missed, access plan but also time schedules and rates. Follow the guide!

History of the Whitney Museum in New York

A historic legacy

Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was a relatively well-known sculptor and a wise collector. At the beginning of the 20th century, she noted that innovative American artists had difficulty exposing or selling their works. It begins to buy and expose their works, becoming the main patron of American art. In 1914, Whitney founded the Whitney Studio Club in Greenwich Village, a cultural space where she exhibited works by avant-garde and totally unknown American artists.

Gertrude Whitney collected more than five hundred pieces and in 1929, she decided to offer them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which declined this gift. At the same time, the sculptor found that the most recent Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) favoured modern art creations in Europe. She then began to create her own institution exclusively reserved for art and American artists. Two years later, in 1931, Gertrude Whitney inaugurated his museum on 8th Street, in Greenwich Village, in a large building that includes three blocks.

8 floors, 19,000 m2

As a step, the museum collection is growing. This requires the Whitney Museum to move to larger and larger premises. In 1954, he settled on 54th Street, behind the MoMa. It will also serve to welcome and protect the works of the great New York Museum during the MoMa fire in April 1958. In 1963, the museum moved again and settled southeast of Madison Avenue in Upper East Side. For more than fifty years, the Whitney Museum will try to find solutions for more space, either by opening several branches or by considering an enlargement of the main museum.

On May 1, 2015, the new museum is inaugurated: it stands on 8 floors and makes 19,000 m2. It is now located in its permanent residence in the West Village area, a few metres from the Chelsea Market. For the anecdote, the current building is... French! It was designed by Renzo Piano, the architect of the Centre Georges Pompidou Paris.

What to see and what to do at the Whitney Museum in New York?

The new Whitney Museum consists of 8 floors . There is a theatre, an educational centre, a library, reading rooms and exhibition rooms. Nearly 5000 m2 are dedicated to indoor galleries, including 1700 m2 for the huge permanent exhibition hall. To this, it is necessary to add 1200 m2 of outdoor space used to expose works and to offer a moment of relaxation to visitors. The terraces offer stunning views of High Line Park and the Hudson River, including the 8th floor restaurant bar.

From the ground floor to the third floor

On the ground floor (Floor 1), you will find the reception, the ticket office, a shop in which you can buy some souvenirs and the restaurant Untitled . On the first and second floor, visitors can admire the permanent collection . The third floor houses a space called Education Center with one theatre which host animations, conferences and shows.

From the ground floor to the third floor

From the fifth to the eighth floor, there are four large exhibition galleries. Each floor has a theme, 1965 to now (fifth floor), 1950-1975 (sixth floor), 1925-1960 (seventh floor), 1910-1940 (eighth floor).

On the fifth floor, TV screens, vacuum cleaners, plush wall and carved cigarette butts replace painting as an expression. In the sixth, visitors will enter the world of Pop Art. Extravagant works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring are exhibited.

Then go to the seventh where you will discover the world of the American show, especially told by the circus of Alexander Calder and the expressionist paintings of Willem de Kooning. Finally, Max Weber and Georgia O’Keeffe type the walls of the eighth floor with their abstract and colourful canvases. Here too, visitors can enjoy a rooftop with an amazing view of the Meatpacking District, the High Line, the Empire State Building and the tower One World Trade Center .

How to go to the Whitney Museum in New York?

• On foot appointment at 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014.
• By metro : you have the choice between lines A, C, E and L. Go down to the stop 14th Street and go back there 14th street to the crossing with Washington street. Turn left onto Washington street. Head south on three blocks and turn right into Gansevoort Street to reach the museum.
• By bus : many bus lines allow you to reach the Whitney Museum including M11, M12 and M14A lines. Stops are on 14th street.
• By car : note that parking on the street near the Whitney Museum is limited. L’Apple Parking, located at 332 West 11th Street, offers a $10 discount to Museum visitors who park more than an hour.

Schedules and rates for the Whitney Museum in New York

HORARI

The Whitney Museum is open daily from 10:30 to 6:00 , except Tuesday that is the weekly closing day. On Friday the museum closes its doors at 10:00.

RATES

You can buy your ticket directly at the museum entrance or book it online. Admission is free for holders of the New York Pass .

The admission rates of the museum vary depending on the visitor’s age:

• Child 18 and under : free
• Adults 19-64 years $25
• Student : $18
• Senior 65+ : $18