This grand gallery of Italian Renaissance paintings in the Frick Madison includes work by Veronese (back right wall) as well as Titian. Centrally located is a bronze by Francesco da Sangallo, placed atop a replica of its original base. To the left are works by later Venetian masters Guardi, Tiepolo, and Carriera The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Works in bronze, including statuettes, reliefs, and portrait medals, and shown together in one gallery at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Work by Veronese and other Old Masters as they appeared in the West Gallery, a purpose-built picture gallery to house and display Henry Clay Frick's art collection on East 70th Street Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Rembrandt’s Nicolaes Ruts (1631) is compared with the artist's much later Self-Portrait (1658) in a second-floor gallery at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Works by British landscape rivals Turner (right) and Constable (left) are shown side by side in the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Portrait of a Woman (1635) by Frans Hals as seen in the West Gallery of the Frick mansion between J.M.W. Turner's Cologne: The Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening (1826) and Jacob van Ruisdael's Landscape with a Footbridge (1652) The Frick Collection. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Three of the Frick’s eight portraits by Van Dyck, as shown at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Vermeer’s Mistress and Maid (left) and Officer and Laughing Girl as shown at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger—Sir Thomas More (left) (1527) and Thomas Cromwell (right) (around 1532–33), face off at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

El Greco’s St. Jerome (around 1590–1600), hangs above the fireplace mantel in the Living Hall of the Frick mansion, flanked by Hans Holbein’s portraits of Sir Thomas More, left, and Thomas Cromwell, right The Frick Collection. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

This gallery at the Frick Madison features all nine Spanish paintings acquired by Henry Clay Frick. On the right wall are works by Murillo and El Greco. On the back wall is the collection's portrait of King Philip IV of Spain by Velázquez The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

19th-century French Neoclassical works are shown in this gallery at Frick Madison, among them painted portraits by Ingres and David, and an expressive terracotta bust by Chinard in the center The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

At Henry Clay Frick's mansion, Ingres's portrait of Comtesse d'Haussonville hanging in the North Hall, and Bellini's St Francis in the Desert in the Living Hall Photos: Michael Bodycomb

Room 21: There are more paintings by Gainsborough at the Frick Collection than any other New York City museum. The wall of this Frick Madison gallery features five of the artist’s works, with his scene The Mall in St. James’s Park at centre The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough—Mrs. Peter William Baker (1781) and The Hon. Frances Duncombe (1777)—and George Romney—Henrietta, Countess of Warwick, and Her Children (1787–89)—hang in the Dining Room at the Frick Collection's East 70th Street location The Frick Collection. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Four grand panels of Fragonard’s series The Progress of Love are shown together at the Frick Madison in a gallery illuminated by one of Marcel Breuer’s trapezoidal windows. This view shows two of the 1771–72 paintings, with two visible in the next gallery The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Later works by Fragonard are shown in a gallery that completes the cycle. At right, a group of seldom-shown panels of Hollyhocks join the work Reverie (around 1790–91), left, at Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

The Frick Collection's Fragonard Room at its usual home Photo: Michael Bodycomb

The Frick Collection houses more works by American-born James McNeill Whistler than any other artist. This view shows three of four of his full-length portraits on display at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

The third-floor galleries at the Frick Madison begin with three rare marble examples of Italian Renaissance portrait sculpture. By Laurana and Verrocchio, they date to the 1470s. The next room features early Italian religious paintings, including works by Paolo Veneziano and Piero della Francesca The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

The Frick Collection is also home to striking works of British portraiture, including paintings by Reynolds (at left and right) and Hogarth (centre) The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

Two rare and infrequently displayed 17th-century Indian Mughal carpets hang on gallery walls at the Frick Madison The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

A dramatic display of European and Asian porcelain (from around 1500 to around 1900) is featured in this Frick Madison room, reflecting deep cultural interaction in the history of the medium. Remarkable examples of 18th-century French furniture from the Frick Collection are also included The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

In this gallery featuring the French decorative arts, the most important clock at the Frick (at left) is shown with two pieces of royal furniture by Riesener commissioned for Marie-Antoinette. Porcelain from the Sèvres manufactory is displayed above her commode The Frick Collection. Photo: Joe Coscia

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In Pictures: an early look inside the Frick Madison

Before the public opening on 18 March, see the startling installation of the museum's Old Masters collection in the Brutalist Breuer building

Nancy Kenney and Helen Stoilas
4 March 2021
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Exterior of Frick Madison Photo: Joe Coscia

Exterior of Frick Madison Photo: Joe Coscia

The Frick Collection is opening its doors to the press today for a viewing of its startling installation of Old Master works in the Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue. Formerly the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Met Breuer, the 1966 building exudes a rough Brutalist aesthetic that throws the Frick’s august paintings and decorative objects into unusual relief. It is a jolting contrast from how they appeared at Henry Clay Frick’s sumptuous Gilded Age mansion, which is closed for at least two years as it undergoes a renovation and expansion. “This is a different Frick than you have ever known,” Ian Wardropper, the museum’s director, said at a virtual press session today.

Here are some highlights of the installation, which opens to the public on 18 March.

• Hear more about the new Frick display in the Breuer building with Xavier Salomon, the deputy director and chief curator of the Frick, on our podcast

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