Museum visits can be time-consuming and expensive affairs. But they don’t have to be. If you aren’t looking to spend an entire day at the Whitney Museum or pay the price of a fancy dinner to bring your family to the Museum of Modern Art, there are plenty of ways to get a satisfying dose of art and culture. To find out how to make the most out of every New York museum visit, CULTURED asked its editors, contributors, and other frequent museumgoers for their favorite insider tips.
Hacks to Save Time
Enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the education center on 82nd Street and avoid the crowds. –Julia Halperin, CULTURED editor-at-large
Nothing beats a slice of cake and a coffee (or a headier beverage) at the Neue Galerie’s stately Café Sabarsky, especially in the winter, but the wait can be long. If you are in a rush, Café Fledermaus in the basement has the same exact menu. The setting is far less grand, but it has a charm all its own. –Andrew Russeth, art critic
Hacks to Save Money
Short on time, cash, or both? The ground-floor galleries at both the Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art are free to visit. –Sophie Lee, CULTURED associate digital editor
Don’t sleep on MoMA’s movie theater. Members get free movies (if you see five a year, you’ve paid for the $110 annual fee without even entering the museum proper). Standard movie tickets at MoMA are also cheaper than at your average multiplex. –Katie White, writer and CULTURED contributor
As a credentialed member of the press, I never pay to enter a museum, but I can report that a ticket for El Museo del Barrio grants you access to the Museum of the City of New York (the home to the Stettheimer Dollhouse) down the street, and vice-versa. –Andrew Russeth, art critic
The Noguchi Museum offers one of the best membership benefits around: 10 percent off Noguchi’s Akari light sculptures. In other words, an $80 membership gets you a $180 discount on a beloved design object. I like that math. –Ella Martin-Gachot, CULTURED senior editor
Hacks to Go Behind the Scenes
At Dia Beacon, Michael Heizer’s glorious North, East, South, West is surrounded by a low glass wall so that people don’t fall into it. But if you make a reservation, you can get up close and personal with the work, before the museum opens for the day. It’s an unforgettable experience. –Andrew Russeth, art critic
A few New York art museums/exhibition space that deserve to be far better known: the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation (guided tours only, once or twice a day), the Nicholas Roerich Museum (on the Upper West Side, far from most other institutions), and the Louis Armstrong House Museum (he owned a Dalí!). –Andrew Russeth, art critic
The best way to see the Frick Collection is during its periodic Sketch Nights, when you can install yourself in a large gallery after hours with free art supplies to boot. –Julia Halperin, CULTURED editor-at-large
Hacks for a Better Experience
Don’t go to the Museum of Ice Cream. Even kids know that it’s bullshit. Expensive, too. Same, but to a lesser extent, with the Museum of Sex (though I’m not sure why you’re bringing your kids there). Fotografiska was the worst of them all, but thankfully enough people called bullshit on that place that it closed. –John Ortved, CULTURED contributor
Determine what you want to see at the Met before you go. Pick three or four shows that you want to see and plan to spend your time on those. The Met is huge and trying to see everything at once is the best way to be exhausted, but also a terrible way to approach the art/exhibitions there. Take your time, sit with the work, and plan another time to come back. Then go to the roof, get a drink, and relax in the open air before you leave. –Zito Madu, writer and CULTURED contributor
Don’t feel like you need to spend hour upon hour at an exhibit, or at a museum. Don’t guilt yourself to boredom, or duty. Not too long ago, I visited a major retrospective at the Met with a museum director friend who whispered to me on the way in, “So you know, I’m good for half an hour here. Maybe 45 minutes.” Music to my ears. Museum visits are like sex: Every time doesn’t have to be a marathon; in fact it’s often better when it’s not. Go at your own pace. No one is clocking you. Enjoy yourself. –John Ortved, CULTURED contributor
Go with someone who works for a museum. Museum staff, interns, and volunteers receive free admission to nearly all museums in the country and can often bring a guest. –JiaJia Fei, strategist and digital art agency founder
The Whitney’s 8th floor bar is newly redone and open. It’s the perfect place to have a cocktail and watch the fall light change as the sun starts to set earlier during the fall—and take a visual break between exhibitions (my approach to any and all museums I visit around the world). –Jacoba Urist, CULTURED’s New York Arts and Hamptons Editor
Size doesn’t matter. An immediate indication of arty ignorance is leading with the numbers: “The Rothko exhibit at the Foundation Louis Vuitton has 115 works; the most ever in one place!” Who. Fucking. Cares. If you can take in 115 paintings in a single visit, you’re a better man than I. And we’re all very impressed. Seeing art can be a privilege, an education, an opportunity, a meditation; and it can be many things at once. What it doesn’t need to be is a caviar eating contest. There are no prizes for seeing the most art, or exhibiting it. –John Ortved, CULTURED contributor
Take drugs and go alone during a snowstorm. –Johanna Fateman, CULTURED co-chief art critic
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