NEW YORK, NY.- The Frick Collection announced today that it will reopen to the public on April 17, 2025, following the multi-year renovation and enhancement of its historic Fifth Avenue home. Designed by Selldorf Architects, with executive architect Beyer Blinder Belle, the project was developed to honor the historic legacy and character of the Frick while addressing critical infrastructure and operational needs.

Marking the most comprehensive upgrade to the institution since its opening in 1935, the project has restored the Frick’s historic first-floor galleries and created a new suite of galleries on the second floor of the original Frick family home, welcoming the public to experience these spaces for the first time. Through the repurposing of existing space and a modest addition, the renovation and enhancement significantly expands exhibition and programmatic spaces, including new special exhibition galleries on the museum’s first floor, the Frick’s first dedicated education rooms, and a new 220-seat auditorium.

The project also included the restoration of the 70th Street Garden, now visible from multiple new vantage points throughout the building. Major infrastructure upgrades, improvements to overall accessibility, and new public amenities and back-of-house facilities—notable among them, the creation of advanced art and library conservation facilities—will ensure the Frick’s vibrancy for decades to come. The Frick Art Research Library and its refurbished reading rooms will reopen concurrently with the museum, with new entry points that enable a seamless integration of the institution’s two branches.

The reopening of the Frick invites visitors to experience the museum’s collection anew, with its iconic masterworks reinstalled in restored galleries on the first floor and smaller-scale paintings, sculptures, and decorative objects on view throughout its newly opened second floor. In addition, the Frick’s inaugural season features a slate of special installations and public programs, including a special commission of porcelain flowers by sculptor Vladimir Kanevsky, a presentation that pays homage to the floral arrangements made for the Frick’s original opening in 1935. In late April, the Frick will inaugurate the Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium with a music festival featuring both classical and contemporary works. And, in June, the museum’s new first-floor special exhibition galleries will debut with Vermeer’s Love Letters, which continues the Frick’s tradition of focused presentations that re-examine masterworks from the collection.

“We are excited to welcome visitors to experience a revitalized Frick Collection and to enjoy all that makes the Frick such a unique institution within the cultural landscape of New York City,” stated Ian Wardropper, the Frick’s Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director, who shepherded the project through to completion. “Intimate encounters with iconic works of art remain a cornerstone of the Frick experience. Visitors will now be able to experience even more of our collection and programs thanks to the many architects, preservation experts, curators, artisans, and innumerable museum and library staff who have collaborated to restore the original mansion while also creating new galleries, program spaces, and public amenities. We are especially honored and gratified by the extraordinarily generous support of donors who have helped to make this renovation and enhancement project a reality.”

Added Elizabeth M. Eveillard, Chair of the Board of Trustees, “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. Following this long-awaited unveiling, we look forward to giving our audiences the opportunity to experience several newly constructed spaces through the revitalization of signature Frick offerings, namely a classical concert series and a focused presentation featuring Vermeer’s beloved Mistress and Maid.”

“It has been an honor and privilege to work on the Frick renovation and enhancement project,” stated Annabelle Selldorf, principal of Selldorf Architects. “We have worked carefully to develop an architectural vocabulary for the project that is continuous with the existing historic fabric yet employs distinct but appropriate contemporary detailing in the façades and interiors. I believe that this careful blending of old and new will make people feel even more welcome as they return to, or discover for the first time, the Frick, its collection, and its beautiful setting.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FRICK’S INAUGURAL SEASON

Museum’s Second Floor Opened to the Public for the First Time

Complementing the grand galleries of the Frick’s first floor—which include the Oval Room, East and West Galleries, Fragonard Room, Dining Room, Library, and Living Hall—the museum’s added second-floor galleries will provide entirely new opportunities for visitors to engage with the Frick’s holdings and historic spaces. Formerly the Frick family’s private living quarters, the second floor of the historic mansion served as staff meeting rooms and administrative offices since the museum opened in 1935. Careful restoration and preservation of architectural and decorative features—including ceiling murals, marble fireplaces, and elaborate carved woodwork—have brought these intimate rooms back to life, with varied arrangements of smaller-scale paintings, sculptures, and decorative objects from different schools and periods, along with rarely exhibited and recently acquired works.

The second floor also enables visitors to experience installations inspired by the personal collecting interests of the Frick family. These include a selection of portrait paintings installed within the original bedroom of Henry Clay Frick in honor of the founder’s favored genre; Renaissance gold-ground panels in the original bedroom of Helen Clay Frick, the founder’s daughter, which pay tribute to her role in shaping the collection; and Impressionist paintings, a majority of which were collected by Frick in his lifetime. A highlight of the second floor is the Boucher Room, which has been moved from its previous location on the first floor to its original setting upstairs in the former private sitting room of Adelaide Childs, Frick’s, wife.

Also on view are significant collections that have more recently entered into the museum’s holdings. Some of these objects have not previously been regularly exhibited, but represent the most significant collections of their kind—including French faience, bequeathed by Sideny R. Knafel; Viennese Du Paquier porcelain given by Melinda and Paul Sullivan; rare portrait medals from the unparalleled holdings of Stephen K. and Janie Woo Scher; and the first permanent display of the Frick’s important collection of clocks and watches.

The installation of these galleries, along with the reinstallation of the Frick’s first-floor galleries, was organized by the curatorial team led by Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator; with Aimee Ng, John Updike Curator; Giulio Dalvit, Associate Curator; and Marie-Laure Buku Pongo, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts; in association with the Frick’s longtime exhibition designer, Stephen Saitas.

Music, Performance, and Education Programming to Resume in New Spaces

Building on its history of hosting concerts of the highest caliber, the Frick is organizing a festival of performances and special events to mark the debut of its new 220-seat Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium. Running from Saturday, April 26, through Sunday, May 11, 2025, the two-week festival includes concerts of Classical, Baroque, and modern music as well as a new contemporary commission by Tyshawn Sorey, the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner for composition. The series is organized by Jeremy Ney, the Frick’s Matthew Christopher Pietras Head of Music and Performance. The Spring Music Festival is made possible through major support from Karen Z. Gray-Krehbiel and John H. Krehbiel Jr. and from Jane Moss and Ravenel Curry. Additional funding is provided by Jane L. Richards. More information about the festival can be found at frick.org/concerts.

New, dedicated education offerings will debut in April with a lecture series, along with fresh and original programs in the institution’s new education room, including the revival of beloved past programs designed to enhance the experience of students, educators, community organizations and partners, and intergenerational audiences. Further programmatic details will be accessible on the museum’s website. These programs are organized by April Kim Tonin, the institution’s Ayesha Bulchandani Head of Education and Public Engagement.

New Cabinet Gallery to Open with Rare Display of Drawings

Complementing the museum’s celebrated holdings of paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts, a display of twelve exceptional works on paper from the collection will inaugurate a new Cabinet Gallery on the museum’s first floor. Rarely on view owing to their sensitivity to light, these works range from sketches to highly finished drawings by Degas, Goya, Ingres, Rubens, and Whistler, among others, and span from the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries. The presentation, on view into the summer of 2025, is organized by Aimee Ng, John Updike Curator. This installation is generously funded by The Gilbert & Ildiko Butler Family Foundation, Inc.

Special Installation of Porcelain Sculptures by Vladimir Kanevsky

The Frick has commissioned a series of works by sculptor Vladimir Kanevsky (b. Ukraine, 1951), meant to evoke the fresh floral bouquets displayed throughout the Frick’s galleries when the museum first opened in 1935. Known for his lifelike porcelain flowers, Kanevsky has exhibited in museums around the world, including the Meissen Porcelain Manufactory Museum in Meissen, Germany; the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia; and Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Washington, D.C. The presentation is organized by Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, and will remain on view for some six months.

Vermeer’s Love Letters to Inaugurate the Frick’s New Special Exhibition Galleries

To inaugurate the museum’s new first-floor special exhibition galleries, three works by Vermeer will be presented from June 18 through September 7, 2025. The unprecedented installation of paintings united in Vermeer’s Love Letters pairs the Frick’s Mistress and Maid with special loans of the Rijksmuseum’s Love Letter and the National Gallery of Ireland’s Woman Writing a Letter, with Her Maid. Their presentation together in a single gallery for the first time offers visitors an opportunity to consider Vermeer’s treatment of the theme of letters and his depiction of women of different social classes. The exhibition is curated by Dr. Robert Fucci, a distinguished scholar of Dutch art from the University of Amsterdam, who has authored a catalogue focused on the three works and their broader themes in seventeenth-century Dutch art. This exhibition is generously funded by the Jasmine Charity Trust in memory of Regina Jaglom Wachter.