Travel

New York City Museums and Galleries

Establishment neighborhood
International Center of Photography Museum
250 Bowery, Nolita
The International Center of Photography's new Bowery museum is a beautiful dedication to photography and visual culture. With state-of-the-art galleries (its white walls are populated with framed works, tablets, and electronic screens alike), 90-feet of glass frontage, and abundant metal, the space is altogether much more inviting than it sounds—optional tours encourage discussion, and the main space is meant to simulate the feel of a village square. Conveniently, it's across the street from The New Museum.
The Whitney Museum of American Art
99 Gansevoort, Meatpacking District
The Whitney—a long-time doyenne on the UES—shut its doors and moved to the Meatpacking District, where it sits in a Renzo Piano–designed building at the southern end of the High Line. The Whitney decamped because of space constrictions uptown, a situation that's now eased by its 200,000 square feet. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art has taken over the Whitney's previous Marcel Breuer–designed home at Madison and 75th.) Bonus: It's open until 10 p.m. on the weekends.
Neue Galerie
1048 Fifth Ave., Upper East Side
Walking into this Upper East Side townhouse is a quick time warp into the golden age of Vienna, before the First World War. The permanent collection, displayed almost as if it were in an elegant home, includes works by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele and many design pieces from Josef Hoffman, Koloman Moser, and Werner Werkstatte. We never tire of visiting the galleries and then heading downstairs for a tea and Linzer torte at the perfectly achieved turn-of-the-century-style Cafe Sabarsky, where you dine surrounded by Adolf Loos furniture.
MoMA
11 W. 53rd St., Midtown
Despite its popularity, which translates into lines around the block on any given day, MoMA is still one of our favorite places in the city. Whenever we come to visit, whether to walk the permanent collection or to check out a new, contemporary exhibition, we always spend some time in the white marble-clad sculpture garden, a rare respite in the middle of bustling midtown. The MoMA has plans to expand into what was previously the Folk Art Museum next door: Headed up by architectural practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro, it will certainly be as artfully conceived as the famous 2002-2004 revamp.