After a five-year closure, New York’s beloved Frick Collection reopens to the public today, April 17th. The museum’s return marks the completion of a multi-year renovation of its Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue in the Upper East Side. To celebrate the reopening, the Frick Collection hosted a glitzy gala on March 31st, featuring over 400 guests, which raised $3.7 million.
“With the return of the Frick’s masterworks to their revitalized home, we welcome visitors to rediscover the beauty, intimacy, and scholarship that have defined the Frick for nearly a century and that we hope will inspire generations of visitors to come,” said Axel Rüger, the director of the Frick who joined in March 2025.
The beloved New York institution was established in 1935 and is internationally acclaimed for its impressive collection of Old Master paintings in a dazzling setting. Located within the former mansion of American industrialist and art patron Henry Clay Frick, the museum is host to iconic works of art history including Johannes Vermeer’s Mistress and Maid (ca. 1667), Rembrandt’ van Rijns self-portrait (1658), Diego Velázquez’s King Philip IV of Spain (ca. 1644), and Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s “The Progress of Love” series.
Several of the museum’s rooms are especially renowend, including the Garden Court, an interior sanctuary featuring a fountain and greenery; the Fragonard Room, bedecked in the Rococo master’s paintings and equally lavish decor; and the West Gallery, with walls lined with deep green velvet.
This renovation is the most significant upgrade to the institution since its founding in 1935. Led by Selldorf Architects with executive architect Beyer Blinder Belle, the renovation expanded gallery space by 30% through a combination of repurposed interiors and new construction. The project restored the museum’s historic first-floor galleries and opened the second floor to the public for the first time. The second floor, formerly the Frick family’s private quarters, now houses galleries devoted to rarely exhibited and recently acquired works, including French faience pottery, portrait medals, and clocks and watches.
The Frick’s inaugural season includes a number of new commissions and special presentations. Among them is a display of porcelain plants and flowers by sculptor Vladimir Kanevsky, recalling the arrangements created for the museum’s original opening. In June, the new special exhibition galleries will debut with “Vermeer’s Love Letters,” a focused presentation of Dutch painter’s work featuring Mistress and Maid alongside two loaned works.
Known for its paintings and sculpture, the Frick also inaugurated a new “cabinet gallery” that features a collection of rare drawings. These works, ranging from sketches to finished works, spotlight underrecognized works by Edgar Degas and Francisco de Goya, among others.
The renovation includes the addition of special exhibition galleries on the first floor, the institution’s first dedicated education rooms, its first public café, and a 218-seat auditorium. The renovations also extended to the Frick Art Research Library and added several new entryways to better connect the library with the museum.
On April 26th, the Frick will inaugurate the Stephen A. Schwarzman Auditorium with a music festival. The festival will run until May 11th, featuring classical, baroque, and modern performances. It will debut a new contemporary commission by Tyshawn Sorey, the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner for composition.
“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,” said Elizabeth M. Eveillard, chair of the institution’s board of trustees.
