New York: three exhibitions to see while avoiding the overcrowded ones of the major museums

In New York, there are of course the great museums with their rich exhibitions which attract visitors from all over the world, like at the moment, at the MoMA, to discover these moving works by the great German pacifist artist of the in-between years. wars, Käthe Kollwitz, or at the Met, which exhibits magnificent Renaissance portraits, as well as major European paintings from the 1300s to 1800s. There are also exhibitions on a more human scale in slightly less crowded places. For these spring days, Challenges has selected three essential ones.

“Culture of Creativity” is 70 works, including half a dozen by Julian Schnabel, three by Damien Hirst, two by Jean-Michel Basquiat, displayed majestically in one of the most elegant stores in the V^e avenue. Not only is the architect and art collector Peter Marino exhibiting some of his works until the end of the month at the jeweler Tiffany, but he is also the one who renovated the ten floors of the famous boutique, over two years during, after the repurchase of the brand by the LVMH group (shareholder of Challenges).

At the heart of collector Peter Marino’s exhibition at the jeweler Tiffany on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. In the foreground, one of the many Julian Schnabel that can be admired there. Credit: Sabine Syfuss-Arnaud

The result is two exhibition floors displaying exceptional contemporary works, including those by Rashid Johnson, Sarah Sze and countless portraits by Marino himself. The visitor can also explore the entire building and discover jewelry, watches, silverware, gems from the past, such as these large silver-gilt forks designed at the end of the 19th century.^e century to eat ice cream. He can also see all the amenities that Peter Marino designed there. Inspired by Andy Warhol, its ceilings are sumptuous.

Practical information

“Culture of Creativity”, Peter Marino collection, until May 20, Tiffany, V^e avenue and 57^e street, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends (from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Free entry upon reservation on the website Tiffany.com.

A little further up along Central Park, the Neue Galerie, owned by Ronald Lauder, the son of the cosmetics empress Estée, presents landscapes by Gustav Klimt inspired by his stays in Switzerland, and much less known than his portraits. Its palette of greens and its play of light and shadow are remarkable. If the exhibition ends on Monday May 6, many of the paintings presented remain in the collection, visible in the same mansion.

Exhibition on Klimt’s landscapes at the Neue Galerie in New York. Credit: Sabine Syfuss-Arnaud

We discover the art of the interwar period in Austria and Germany. With magnificent portraits of Klimt, including the extremely famous one of Adele Bloch-Bauer, requisitioned by the Nazis and returned forty years later after a Homeric battle recounted in the film “The Woman at the Table” (Woman in Gold, 2015) . Also included are works by leading German Expressionists, some of whom belonged to Estée, including Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Emil Nolde and August Macke. The visit can end with a trip to the Sabarsky café, where you can enjoy thick hot chocolate, eat Viennese pastries and read the Austrian press.

Practical information

“Klimt landscape”, until May 6, where the gallery will be exceptionally open every day. Then some of these works will remain visible in the permanent collection, which opens every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., 1048 V^e avenue (at the height of 86^e Street). Admission $28.

At the bottom of Manhattan, right next to Ground Zero, the “See Stop Run” event exhibition is the polar opposite of the atmosphere of the Neue Galerie. Christopher Wool, whose largest exhibition since 2014, received accolades from the American press, including a long article from New York Times. The American artist wanted to make his new productions, his paintings, sculptures, mosaics and photographs known not in a gallery, but in a “raw” space (raw, in English) about 200 m². He chose 19^e floor of a building, whose space, bathed in light, seems to give life and perspective to the works, facing large windows which open onto the port of New York, the sea and, in the distance, Staten Island.

“See, stop, run”, Christopher Wool exhibition in New York, in lower Manhattan. Credit: Sabine Syfuss-Arnaud

Wool, who was exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris in 2012, by the Guggenheim Museum and several works of which are part of the Vuitton and Pinault collections, wanted to reconnect with the energy of New York which has inspired for forty years, in this exhibition whose atmosphere smells of Big Apple from the mid-1980s, so well filmed in Scorsese’s cult film After Hours.

Practical information

“See Stop Run,” by Christopher Wool, until July 31, Thursday to Sunday, 101 Greenwich Street (Rector Street entrance), 19^e floor. Free admission.