Spectacular new openings make New York an even better place to visit

Since the affluence, ambition and progressiveness of the late-1800s’ Gilded Age, New York City has been a destination for art lovers. Today, the Big Apple offers venerable museums dating back to that time, niche galleries, and hundreds of commercial art purveyors that make the city one of the world’s most important centres for the global art market.

And 2025 will see several exciting reopenings and redevelopments that involve top architects.

Rendering of Oceania Galleries, Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art’s new Michael C Rockefeller Wing.

Housed in one of New York City’s last great Gilded Age residences, The Frick Collection on Fifth Avenue holds one of the world’s foremost collections of fine and decorative arts. It reopens in April after a renovation and enhancement project by Selldorf Architects with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners. It’s the first comprehensive upgrade of the Frick in almost 90 years and will allow the public to experience more of the original residence, as well as providing a better and expanded viewing experience.

Studio Museum in Harlem.Credit: Albert Vecerka/Esto

On May 31, the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art reopens its Michael C Rockefeller Wing after a major renovation closed it in 2021. The wing includes the collections: Arts of Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania. When complete, it will feature more than 1800 works spanning five continents and hundreds of cultures.

Rendering of the expanded New Museum and public plaza.

Designed by WHY Architecture in collaboration with Beyer Blinder Belle, the new spacious galleries allow natural light and layouts set for storytelling.

Founded in 1968 by a collective, the Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for promoting the work of artists of African descent. It’s moving to a new home, designed by Adjaye Associates in collaboration with Cooper Robertson. This is the museum’s first conceived-for-purpose home, and it opens with an exhibition of the work of Tom Lloyd, a Jamaican-born sculptor and activist whose work was the subject of the inaugural show. The opening is scheduled for the northern autumn.

Also scheduled for this year, the Lower East Side’s dedicated contemporary art gallery, New Museum, will debut an architecturally stunning expansion by the starchitect-studded OMA which will double exhibition space and provide additional functionality for community and education programs.

See frick.org ; metmuseum.org ; studiomuseum.org ; newmuseum.org