The Whitney Museum of American Art is the museum of 20th and 21st century American art, housed in a Renzo Piano building at the southern end of the High Line in the Meatpacking District. The Whitney Museum is known for its collection of Edward Hopper, for championing living artists, and for the Whitney Biennial, a survey of new American art held every two years. Its outdoor terraces, stepping down toward the Hudson, are reason enough to go.
Why visit the Whitney Museum
The museum was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a sculptor and patron who collected the work of American artists at a time when many museums ignored them. After decades on the Upper East Side, the Whitney moved to its current building on Gansevoort Street in 2015. The new site has much larger galleries, natural light from the river and a series of terraces where sculpture is shown in the open air.
The collection runs from early modernism to the present. Names you will likely see include Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and Alexander Calder, whose much-loved wire Circus is a Whitney treasure. Displays rotate, and a large share of the building is given to temporary exhibitions, so each visit is different.
Getting to the Whitney by subway
The closest station is 14 St on the A, C and E lines at Eighth Avenue, also served by the L at 8 Av. From there walk west along 14th Street and then south-west on the cobbled streets of the Meatpacking District to Gansevoort Street at Washington Street. Allow about ten minutes.
The 1, 2 and 3 at 14 St on Seventh Avenue are another option, a few minutes further away. If you walk the High Line from the north, the stairs at its Gansevoort Street end come down right beside the museum.
Whitney Museum tickets
Admission is paid for adults, with reduced rates for some groups. Young visitors under a certain age are generally free, and the museum has run free or pay-what-you-wish periods on some days and evenings. These programmes change, so check the official website, whitney.org, for current prices, timed entry and opening days. The museum is closed on at least one day each week. Booking online is the easiest way in, especially during the Biennial.
Highlights
The terraces
Outdoor terraces on several upper floors face the Hudson and the Manhattan skyline, linked by exterior stairs. Sculpture and installations are often shown here, and the views are excellent at any time of day.
Edward Hopper
The Whitney holds a very large collection of Hopper's work, thanks to a bequest from his widow, Josephine. Look for his quiet city scenes and portraits of light on empty rooms.
Calder's Circus
Alexander Calder's miniature circus of wire, cloth and found materials, which he performed for friends in Paris, is one of the collection's best-loved pieces.
The Biennial
If your visit falls during a Biennial year, expect much of the museum to be given over to new work by contemporary artists. It is the museum's flagship exhibition and draws large crowds.
Best time to visit the Whitney Museum
Weekday mornings tend to be quietest. Weekends, especially when combined with crowds on the High Line, can be busy, and the free or discounted periods draw long lines. A late-afternoon visit timed to end on the terraces at sunset over the Hudson is a lovely way to finish a day in the area.
Plan on two hours for a good look at the galleries and terraces.
Food and drink
The museum has a restaurant on the ground floor and a café on an upper floor. The Meatpacking District around it has plenty of other places to eat, and Chelsea Market is a short walk north.
Nearby on the same subway stop
- High Line: the elevated park begins right beside the museum.
- Chelsea Market: the food hall in the old Nabisco factory, a few blocks north.
- Little Island: the park built on stilts in the Hudson, off West 13th Street.
- The West Village: tree-lined streets and cafés just to the south.
To see what else is close by, open the Whitney Museum on Around the Metro, or explore the full New York subway map.