After years of renovations, The Frick Collection is finally reopening the doors of its historic New York City mansion—and its storied collection of art and decorative objects—to the public. Brand-new galleries, a first-of-its-kind Vermeer exhibition, and much more await visitors to the expanded museum and art library.
Frick Collection to Open Second Floor for First Time
When The Frick Collection first opened as a museum in 1935, the second floor of the mansion was made off-limits to visitors. Previously, this space was the Frick family’s private living quarters, after which it served as administrative offices. Now, The Frick Collection’s long-shuttered second floor boasts a suite of ten new galleries, which will welcome the public for the first time in April 2025.
Notably, the second floor will feature a new Boucher Room, the contents of which were previously on display in a first-floor gallery. This relocation returns the Boucher Room to its original setting—the private sitting room of Adelaide Childs Frick, wife of Frick Collection founder Henry Clay Frick. The Frick Collection’s newly-expanded second-floor galleries will also highlight objects that have entered into the museum’s permanent collection more recently. These include the museum’s first permanent display of clocks and watches, as well as other rarely-exhibited objects.
New Sculpture Installation and Cabinet Gallery
The Frick Collection is also unveiling a new Cabinet Gallery on its first floor to exhibit sketches and drawings from its permanent collection. The gallery’s inaugural display will feature works on paper ranging from the 15th to the 19th centuries, most of which are rarely accessible to the public due to their sensitivity to light. These include works by the likes of Rubens, Degas, Whistler, Goya, and Ingres, which will be exhibited until the summer of 2025.
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Additionally, the museum commissioned artist Vladimir Kanevsky to install a series of sculptures throughout its galleries. Kanevsky, who was born in 1951 in Ukraine, has exhibited his signature porcelain flower sculptures in museums and galleries worldwide. His new series of lifelike floral bouquets, sculpted especially for the Frick Collection, will hearken back to the fresh flower arrangements that decorated the galleries when the museum first opened in 1935.
More Firsts at The Frick Collection
Even more novelties await visitors to the renovated The Frick Collection. The museum will debut its brand-new special exhibition space with a show titled Vermeer’s Love Letters. From June 18 to September 8, 2025, the exhibition will unite three Johannes Vermeer masterpieces for the first time in a single gallery: The Frick Collection’s own Mistress and Maid, the Rijksmuseum’s The Love Letter, and the National Gallery of Ireland’s Woman Writing a Letter, with Her Maid.
Ian Wardropper, the museum’s outgoing director, said, “The intimate encounters with art offered by our historic galleries, along with new spaces transformed from former domestic interiors, remain a cornerstone of the Frick experience.” Elizabeth M. Eveillard, Chair of the Board of Trustees, added, “The Frick’s reopening is an invitation to all New Yorkers and art lovers from around the world to discover—or rediscover—incredible works of art from our permanent collection, displayed in the painstakingly restored setting of our historic home….We look forward to giving our audiences the opportunity to experience several newly constructed spaces through signature Frick initiatives.”
