If it feels like seeing art in New York City is getting more expensive, that’s because it is.
The Whitney, the Guggenheim and MoMA raised their prices 20% last year, with the museums all charging $30 for general admission now.
The Met Museum may have started the trend in 2022, when it raised prices for out-of-towners, though admission is still pay-what-you-wish for city residents.
“For a lot of people, they don’t know if they’re going to like the art or not,” said Ellen Swieskowski, founder of the free app See Saw, which aggregates information about what’s currently showing in art galleries. “It makes it difficult to just be curious and give things a chance when you have the high stakes of the high admission price.”
Thankfully for New Yorkers and many visitors as well, the city has an abundance of free or more affordable ways to engage with the arts.
“SKY” (2018) by Yoko Ono at 72 Street
Photo by Patrick Cashin / Courtesy of the MTA
Gallery shows
Swieskowski’s app, See Saw, is now 10 years old and one of the most popular tools for finding art shows. She calls it a “free app to see art for free.”
See Saw lists nearly every gallery in the city, with real-time information and photos about ongoing exhibits..
You can browse lists by neighborhood or geolocate yourself on a map and nearby galleries will pop up. If something catches your eye, you can add it to your own shortlist or custom map to help winnow down the more than 1,400 options.
Blue-chip galleries like Gagosian, David Zwirner and Paula Cooper often show works from their superstar rosters, including Cecily Brown, Cy Twombly, Francis Bacon and more.
“Galleries are this incredible resource that are basically invisible to most people passing by,” Swieskowski said. “A lot are on the third floor of a random building and you have to know they exist. We want to surface that information.”
She said that because galleries are free, they make it easier for people to squeeze art into their day in smaller bites.
“You go to MoMA or the Whitney and you’ve paid your $30 bucks, so you want to get the most out of that,” she said. “You might spend three hours, and by the end you’re exhausted and overstimulated, tired, hungry.”
“The Open Secret” (1986) by Houston Conwill at 125 Street
Photo by Trent Reeves / Courtesy of the MTA
Auction houses
In a similar vein, few New Yorkers seem to know that all the major auction houses’ previews are free and open to the public.
Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams and Phillips are the city’s major auction houses and provide details and calendars of upcoming exhibitions on their websites.
Auction previews offer the chance to see art that may never be seen again, in a brief glimpse as it shuttles among private stockpiles amassed by high-powered collectors on the international art market.
Free previews are often held in the week before an auction happens, and anyone can walk in during business hours to see the offerings in-person, no appointment needed.
Occasionally, superstar items up for auction may have a different policy, so it’s worth checking the auction house website before going out of your way.
“The Fear of Letting Go” by Clifford Prince King. His photographs will be on display at bus shelters and newsstands across New York, Chicago, and Boston.
Clifford Prince King, courtesy of Public Art Fund
Public art
New York is home to a wealth of public art, much of it on permanent display in unlikely “galleries,” including the subway and the city’s public hospitals. Both systems have amassed substantial art collections over the years, with works from Yayoi Kusama, Keith Haring, Helen Frankenthaler, Andy Warhol and hundreds more artists.
To find subway art, visit MTA Arts & Design. Favorites include William Wegman’s canine mosaics at the 23rd Street F/M station and the flipbook-like “masstransiscope” that appears through the windows of moving B/Q trains in Brooklyn.
The city also boasts rotating exhibits sponsored by organizations like the Public Art Fund and often installed in venues like Lincoln Center or Madison Square Park.
Rockefeller Center hosts public art projects, and recently featured Melissa Joseph, whose work has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum.
The projects are generally free to walk by, though the occasional exhibit requires free reservations.
The Whitney Museum has several initiatives offering free admission.
Photo by Nic Lehoux / Courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art
Free museum hours
Dozens of museums and cultural venues offer regular free or “pay what you wish” admission hours.
Heavy hitters like MoMA, the Whitney and the Guggenheim offer these free hours, as do smaller venues like the Morgan Library and Noguchi Museum.
Many venues also have free late night offerings on a regular basis, such as the Brooklyn Museum’s popular First Saturdays program.
Hours and days for these opportunities can change, and some require reservations, so start by checking the institution’s website.
If you’re a NYC resident who doesn’t want to wait for the occasional free hours, many institutions offer free admission on your own schedule via the NYC Culture Pass and the free IDNYC card.
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