Museums of New York

John Updike quoted Yoshio Taniguchi, the architect responsible for MoMA’s expansion, as promising the museum’s trustees that if they raised enough money he would “make the architecture disappear.” And indeed this sleek temple to modern art is remarkably unobtrusive though through its vast windows the city itself becomes a work of art. The museum’s collection is without equal, offering visitors a synoptic experience of European modernism and American abstract expressionism. The Guggenheim’s strength lies is in its temporary exhibitions and special events, its once mighty permanent collection watered down by sales and dispersal to Guggenheims elsewhere. The Metropolitan Museum, the start of New York’s museum mile stretching up Fifth Avenue for over 20 blocks, is one of the world’s great repositories of art, containing everything from Greek statuary to Mughal miniatures to Stradivari violins and haute couture. The only problem is that the swingeing ticket prices at these superb museums discourage repeat visits. See www.moma.org, www.guggenheim.org and www.metmuseum.org.