When the Met is free, and what admission actually costs in 2026
The Metropolitan Museum of Art charges $30 general admission but remains pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents and tri-state students, per the museum's current policy.
Pacific Press New York
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The Frick reopened its upstairs for the first time, and changed how the collection reads
The Frick Collection reopened in April 2025 after its Selldorf Architects renovation, opening second-floor galleries of the Gilded Age mansion for the first time in its history as a museum.
How public art gets commissioned in New York, from percent-for-art to the subway
New York's public art runs through three channels — the city's Percent for Art law, the Public Design Commission, and MTA Arts & Design — each with its own budget rule and vetting process.
New York's major art museums offer several routes around full-price admission
The Met, MoMA, MoMA PS1 and the Whitney each waive or reduce their standard ticket price under specific conditions, from residency-based pay-what-you-wish rates to a museum that has gone fully free.
Exhibitions
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How a library card unlocks free admission to more than 100 New York museums
Culture Pass lets cardholders of New York's three public library systems reserve free entry to museums, gardens and historical sites across the city.
Why New York museums open blockbusters in the fall and run light in the summer
The New York exhibition calendar is built on a simple pattern: prestige openings crowd September through November, while summer belongs to long-running shows aimed at visitors already in the city.
Whitney Biennial 2026 carries the museum's summer, floor by floor
The 82nd Whitney Biennial, which opened on March 8, 2026, anchors the Whitney Museum of American Art's summer — but its three floors now close on three different dates, the last not until October 12.
How to read museum wall labels
Artist, title, medium, credit line, accession number: the small text beside a work is a compressed record of what the object is and how the museum got it.
Events
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Armory Show pushes 2026 edition to late September, expands Caribbean focus
The fair's VIP preview moves to September 24 to avoid clashing with Frieze Seoul, with roughly 230 galleries and two new Caribbean-focused sections.
Where to see performance art in New York
Between The Kitchen in Chelsea, the Museum of Modern Art's Kravis Studio and the Performa biennial, New York covers performance art from intimate experiments to citywide spectacle.
Which New York museums stay open late?
Friday is the city's museum late night — the Whitney to 10 p.m., the Met to 9, MoMA, the Frick and the Morgan to 8:30 or 8 — but every weeknight has at least one late option, and the evenings are the calmest hours in the building.
TEFAF New York closes its tenth edition with reported strength
The Park Avenue Armory fair reported energetic crowds and sales from Miró to Lalanne in its closing statement of May 20, 2026, ending the city's May art week on an up note.
Spotlight
Gallery etiquette for first-timers
New York's commercial galleries are free, unstaffed by ticket desks and quietly rule-governed; a first-timer's guide to entering, asking prices, bags, photography and leaving without buying.
How to visit the Brooklyn Museum
A visiting guide to the Brooklyn Museum: the Egyptian galleries, Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party, the 2 and 3 trains from Manhattan and the First Saturdays evening series.
How artist gallery representation works
Consignment, the fifty-fifty split, the stable, and the secondary market: the mechanics behind what hangs in New York's commercial galleries.
How New York commissions artists for its public buildings and subway stations
Percent for Art sets aside a share of city construction budgets for artwork, and the transit authority runs its own parallel commissioning system — here is how each one picks an artist.
Artists
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What an artist residency means in New York
Studios, stipends, and fifty-eight years of the Studio Museum's program: how New York residencies work and which documented programs run today.
Where to see Jackson Pollock in New York
MoMA's unparalleled collection and the Met's Autumn Rhythm hold the drip period's two largest canvases—both from 1950, twenty blocks apart on one avenue system.
Where to see Yayoi Kusama in New York
MoMA's 112-work collection anchors the historical Kusama; the Infinity Mirror Rooms arrive in Chelsea cycles, most recently across six David Zwirner shows to 2023.
Where to see Kara Walker in New York
The Met's twenty-six holdings, the Whitney's 2007 survey, the 2014 Domino sphinx, and the Chelsea gallery that anchors her ongoing New York presence.
Guides
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First visit to MoMA
A first-visit guide to the Museum of Modern Art: which floor to start on, how the 2019 expansion arranged the collection and when the sculpture garden is empty.
First visit to the Whitney Museum
A first-visit guide to the Whitney Museum of American Art: how the Gansevoort Street building's floors and terraces are arranged, where the Hudson lookouts are and how to fold in the High Line.
How to see the Met in one visit
The Metropolitan Museum of Art cannot be seen in a day; a route built on four departments — Egyptian, European paintings, the American Wing and the Greek and Roman galleries — makes one visit cohere.
How to walk Museum Mile in a day
Seven museums line Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 104th Street; a realistic one-day plan pairs two or three of them, moving north from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Art News
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How the buyer's premium works at Christie's and Sotheby's
How New York decides which artist gets a public art commission
A 1982 city law quietly shapes the sculptures, mosaics and murals in New York's firehouses, courthouses and schools. Here is how the selection actually works.
How a public artwork gets commissioned in New York
New Museum promotes Massimiliano Gioni to director
The New Museum has named Massimiliano Gioni its Toby Devan Lewis Director, announced in early July 2026, completing a leadership transition that began with Lisa Phillips's retirement in April.