THE FRICK COLLECTION

The house, which opened to the public in 1932, bears no resemblance to the idea of a traditional museum. Perhaps that's why New Yorkers love the Frick Collection, the dream come true of a Pittsburgh steel magnate, Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), who wanted to leave to posterity the image of a modern American patron of the arts who was willing to offer fortunes for the works of art he wished to acquire at any cost. A patron of the arts, but also a fierce anti-unionist, Frick was responsible for the massacre of the Homestead Steel workers. He devoted a large part of his immense fortune and 40 years of his life to the purchase of the wonders that hang on the walls of his opulent home built in 1913 on 5th Avenue, opposite Central Park.

The house has 19 rooms furnished in the 18th century English and French style. 1,100 first-rate pieces: all works by great masters, and often among the most beautiful, if not the most personal. Bellini, Boucher, Bruegel, Chardin, David, Delacroix, Degas, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, El Greco, Ingres, Lawrence, Lorrain, Manet, Monet, Piero della Francesca, Rembrandt, Renoir, Rubens, de La Tour, Van Dyck, Van Eyck, Velázquez, Vermeer, Tiepolo, Titian, Veronese, Watteau, Whistler? In the western gallery (the richest), one can admire two remarkable Turners facing each other and, placed side by side, a self-portrait by Rembrandt and his enigmatic Polish Rider. Pell-mell, there are four beautiful paintings by the American painter Whistler, an astonishing Bronzino, Titian's Portrait of the Aretinus and Holbein the Younger's Portrait of Sir Thomas More. In all the rooms, look at the French furniture, the oriental carpets, which, although they seem to be part of the decor, are in fact art objects in their own right. You will certainly want to sit in the glass-roofed garden, where, lulled by the murmur of the fountain, you will enjoy the peace of this oasis of fine art. A recent gallery houses permanent exhibitions of works from the collection or from other museums. This small gallery is accessible by a steep spiral staircase outside the entrance hall, which is not very visible and easy to miss if you are not aware of its existence.

The museum is currently undergoing major renovations and is not accessible. During the renovation, which is expected to last until 2023, part of the collection is temporarily housed in the former Met Breuer building at 945 Madison Avenue.