Neue Galerie
On Friday my friend Katie and I went to the Neue Galerie, a small museum on the Upper East Side "devoted to early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design." My uncle had taken me seven years ago, but German Expressionism is my favorite art movement (if I'm forced to pick just one) and I'd been wanting to go back for some time.
Usually admission is pretty steep — $20 general, $10 students and seniors — but on the first Friday of every month the museum is free from 6-8pm. I feel bad being so cheap, about museums especially, when I love and respect art so much, but I really wish most of them were cheaper or had more free nights. Most museums in the city have a night similar to a first Friday, where it's free or suggested donation, and the MET Museum has always been suggested donation. But there are plenty of other places that are pretty expensive, and it adds up quick. Of course, I'd rather spend my money on art and museums than going to bars or buying clothes, so I always try to pay as much as I can, but I've been trying to plan my visits lately around the discounted or free nights.
When we arrived at the Neue around 6:15 there was a line around the block, so I'm not the only one who craves a deal. Luckily, the line moved very quickly and we were inside by 6:30. The museum itself is in a landmark building, overlooking Central Park on 5th Avenue, and it was once occupied by a Vanderbilt, so you know it's spectacular. The second floor galleries with their ornate woodwork and floor-ceiling windows are as worth seeing as the art that hangs in them. There are two floors of artwork from Germany and Austria, as well as a nice collection of Decorative Arts pieces.
Some of my favorites are Egon Schiele's tortured self-portraits, Ernst Kirchner's trippy street life scenes and, surprisingly, Gustav Klimt's landscapes. Klimt's Adele Bloch-Bauer I is probably one of their most famous pieces, but I've never been a huge fan. I do appreciate that she appears to be wearing a skirt made of eyeballs, because that's just super strange, but it's a bit gaudy for me.
They have a huge collection of sketches and woodcuts that are amazing, and they currently have a Bauhaus exhibition that I know my graphic design professors would have been proud of me for recognizing. I've heard good things about Cafe Sabarsky and it's on my list of places to try, even if I'm not able to pronounce 90% of the menu.
If you don't mind fighting a bit of a crowd to see your art, I definitely recommend trying out the Neue on the next first Friday, although if you love German and Austrian art as much as I do, it's probably worth paying the extra money to get a little more breathing space.