The Whitney
The foremost institution devoted to the arts in the US, the Whitney Museum of American Art showcases a variety of twentieth-century and contemporary American Art, with a concentration on living artists.
The Whitney, located on Madison Avenue between east 74th and 75th streets, is dedicated to collecting, interpreting, preserving and – most importantly – exhibiting the finest holdings of American art. Currently, the museum’s signature exhibition, the Biennial, is the nation’s leading study of the most recent artistry in American art.
When the Whitney was first born, it was the first museum dedicated to exhibiting the works of living artists. It was also the first New York-based museum to present a major exhibition to a video artist. The Whitney also proudly adds to its resume the fact that it was the first museum to take exhibitions beyond its own walls; in order to do so, they established corporate-funded branch facilities. The Whitney has also developed a program of collection-sharing with the San Jose Museum of Art to increase access to its renowned collections. Since then, the Whitney has presented itself as a cornucopia of well-curated, up-and-coming works before artists became broadly recognized.
The exhibition schedule changes on a rotating basis, with some exhibitions lasting a month or more while others may opt for shorter durations. On Mondays and Tuesdays the Whitney is closed; Wednesday and Thursday it’s open from 11 am to 6 pm; on Fridays from 1 pm to 9 pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am until 6 pm.
For nonmembers, general admission is $20.
