What to See

The Met Breuer:

The Met Breuer, located on 75th and Madison avenue on the Upper East Side of New York City is the home to several modern and contemporary art exhibits. The building of the Met Breuer is the same building where the Whitney Museum once stood. Currently there are four exhibits to visit at this museum. On the top floor there is an exhibit entitled “Breuer Revisited: New Photographs by Luisa Lambri and Bas Princen”. This set of photographs is meant to showcase the architecture of Marcel Breuer. The Met Breuer museum itself was meant to reflect the architectural style of Marcel Breuer, so pictures of parts of the museum are displayed in this exhibit. On the next floor down there is an exhibit of the work of an artist who greatly contributed to the development of Brazilian art. This artist is Lygia Pape. The majority of this exhibit is made up of three dimensional art with various geometric shapes in a range of colors. Arguably among her most impressive work on show is Pape’s 365 square piece display, which covers an entire wall of the room. Out of the four exhibits I visited at this museum, the top two floors were my favorites. The third floor displays Marsden Hartley’s “Maine”. This display is made up of multiple paintings of colorful mountains and other outdoor scenes, as well as paintings of semi-nude men. I did not particularly enjoy this artist’s work, although some of the mountain paintings were quite beautiful. The second floor houses an exhibit by Marisa Merz entitled “The Sky Is A Great Space”. The exhibit opens with huge metallic sculptures hanging from the ceiling. Throughout the exhibit there are paintings, tables, and other sculptures, as well as videos on display. The sculptures were unique and cool, created in various mediums and sizes. If you only have a limited amount of time at this museum I highly recommend visiting the Pape and the Lambri and Princen exhibits first because they are most interesting, in my opinion, and then moving on to the other exhibits if you have time. Suggested admission at this museum is $25 for adults, $12 for students, and $17 for seniors. Children under 12 who are accompanied by an adult can visit this museum for free. The prices listed here are suggested prices, so you don’t have to pay this exact amount, but rather can pay more or less or whatever you feel comfortable with. For more information on The Met Breuer and to buy tickets visit their website at http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/met-breuer.

View of the Met Breuer from Madison avenue

Breuer Revisited: New Photographs by Luisa Lambri and Bas Princen

Lygia Pape exhibit

Lygia Pape’s 365 square display

Marsden Hartley’s “Maine”

Marisa Merz’s “The Sky Is A Great Space”

The Guggenheim Museum:

Located on the Upper East Side on Fifth Avenue, the Guggenheim Museum is iconic to the city of New York and is great to visit no matter what age you are. The museum was created in a circular shape with a pathway that leads you from the ground floor of the museum up to the top. This creates a interesting way of viewing the artwork. Not only do you see each piece up close, but you can also see it from afar from across the spiral. When I went to the Guggenheim the other day I walked around the spiral and viewed the museum’s general admissions collection. This collection features artwork by Jackson Pollock, Maurizio Cattelan, Vasily Kandinsky, and Alexander Calder among many more. The pieces are interesting and are all different. Some are more abstract and it is hard to decipher what you are looking at, whereas others depict the subject more clearly. An iconic piece of artwork displayed at the Guggenheim Museum is the golden toilet, entitled America located on the fifth floor of the museum. This piece of artwork was created by Maurizio Cattelan. People line up to see this for various amounts of time ranging from fifteen minutes to a hour. Although this golden toilet is a fun sight, I can’t say that the wait is necessarily worth it. You could probably find a pretty great photo of this interesting piece of art online, although, being an 18 karat gold toilet, it is quite the unusual and unique piece of art. Lastly, although I wasn’t able to see it because it was sold out, I have heard that the Doug Wheeler exhibit is definitely worth a visit. If you want to see this exhibit you should get your tickets online beforehand, because the general admission ticket will not get you into this exhibit. General admission tickets at the Guggenheim are $25 for adults. They are $18 for students with a valid ID and seniors over the age of 65. Children under the age of 12 are free as well as people who have a membership to the museum. To learn more about the exhibits and to buy tickets ahead of time online visit their website at http://www.guggenheim.org.

The Whitney Museum and Its Surrounding Neighborhood:

Have you taken the trip from the Upper East Side to the relatively new Whitney Museum in the meatpacking district? The Whitney Museum is a great place to go whether you enjoy art or not. If you are one who doesn’t particularly like museums, the neighborhood around the museum has many nice stores and restaurants, including Warby Parker, Theory, Rag and Bone, Catch, Ample Hills Creamery, and many more! Also nearby is the Highline. To see beautiful views of the city, head up to the roof of the Whitney. Untitled, the restaurant on the ground floor of the Whitney is a great place to grab a quick coffee or to sit down for a great meal. I highly recommend the hot chocolate and the crispy flatbread with mushrooms. Some might think Untitled at the Whitney is a bit pricey, but I can speak from experience and say it is definitely worth it. After lunch, head into the exhibits. Admission for people 18 and under is free, while adults are $22 when gotten in advance and $25 on site on the day you want to go. Seniors and students are $17 in advance and $18 the day of at the museum. When I visited the Whitney the other day I saw the exhibit Fast Forward: Painting From the 1980s. This exhibit had both artwork that I liked and artwork that I didn’t like as much. After visiting the exhibits at the Whitney you should head over to Ample Hills Creamery down the street for ice cream. I highly recommend the peppermint ice cream, it was delicious – it tasted just like real peppermint and left me wanting more. For more information on the Whitney visit their website at www.whitney.org, and make sure to comment if you have any questions about places to go or things to see in the neighboring area!

Hamilton:

Have you heard all your friends raving about the newest Broadway hit Hamilton? Have they been singing the songs constantly and you don’t understand what all the hype is about? Well you should make a trip to Richards Rogers Theatre to see this amazing performance. Inspired by the biography Alexander Hamilton, written by Ron Chernow, this play depicts the life of Mr. Hamilton, starting at the time he first sets foot in the United States. This play combines the history of our country with current sounding music. This music portrays emotion through rapping, and reminds me much of the music written by Eminem (the rapper). Although tickets are pricey, buy them now before the play is sold out for an eternity! This play is one of the greatest I’ve ever seen and is definitely worth seeing. I have no doubt this play will be remembered in history for many years to come. So buy your tickets and get excited to experience the play of the century, and don’t forget to add the songs to your Spotify playlist!