The Frick Collection in NYC has unveiled its renovation, marking the most significant upgrade since its 1935 opening.
Led by Selldorf Architects, the multi-year project has not only restored the historic first-floor galleries but, for the first time, opened the original Frick family home’s second floor to the public.
This expansion has created new gallery spaces, dedicated education rooms, a new auditorium, and an onsite café, all while seamlessly integrating modern amenities and accessibility features.
The second floor of the Frick Collection offers an intimate glimpse into the former private living quarters of the Frick family, transforming them into a suite of ten new galleries.
A highlight is the Boucher Room, which has been returned to its original location as Adelaide Childs Frick’s private sitting room.
This exquisite space features the famed 18th-century decorative panels by François Boucher and his workshop, depicting the arts and sciences, along with period French furniture and Sèvres porcelain, all painstakingly restored to recreate the ambiance.
Other notable new spaces include:
– Henry Clay Frick’s original bedroom, now a gallery showcasing a selection of portrait paintings from the collection, including Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s “Portrait of Louise, Princesse de Broglie.”;
– Helen Clay Frick’s bedroom, which now displays the museum’s world-class collection of early Renaissance gold-ground paintings by artists such as Piero della Francesca and Fra Filippo Lippi.
– The Breakfast Room, restored to its appearance when the Frick family lived in the mansion, offering a serene step back in time.
Throughout the second floor, visitors will also encounter restored historic architectural and decorative elements, including ceiling murals (like the light blue chinoiserie work by J. Alden Twachtman in the long hallway), marble fireplaces, and carved woodwork. The opening of these previously private rooms not only significantly increases the amount of the collection on view (from 25% to 47%) but also provides a deeper understanding of the Frick family’s personal tastes and how they lived with their remarkable art collection.
The Frick Collection has just inaugurated its new first-floor special exhibition galleries with the highly anticipated show, “Vermeer’s Love Letters,” which opened on June 18, 2025.
This exhibition unites three iconic paintings by Johannes Vermeer that focus on the theme of letter writing and domestic intimacy in 17th-century Dutch art.
At its heart is the Frick’s own masterpiece, “Mistress and Maid”, joined by two significant loans: “The Love Letter” from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and “Woman Writing a Letter, with Her Maid” from the National Gallery of Ireland.
This rare gathering of these three works in a single gallery allows visitors an extraordinary opportunity to compare Vermeer’s masterful treatment of the subject, his nuanced portrayal of women across different social classes, and the subtle emotional narratives woven into these captivating scenes.
Johannes Vermeer’s enduring appeal lies in his meticulous technique and the intriguing curiosities surrounding his working methods. He was a master of capturing light, often using a “wet-on-wet” approach and layering thin glazes over opaque underpaintings to achieve his characteristic luminosity and subtle transitions of color and shadow.
A key curiosity that has fascinated art historians for over a century is the strong possibility that Vermeer utilized a camera obscura, a precursor to the modern photographic camera.
This optical device projects an image from a brightly lit scene onto a darkened surface, and its use could explain the “photographic” qualities in his paintings, such as the distinct circles of light (called “pointillés”) on reflective surfaces and his precise perspective.
While no definitive proof exists of him owning or consistently using one, the effects seen in his work, from the seemingly “out of focus” foregrounds to the perfectly rendered details, strongly suggest an engagement with optical tools, underscoring his innovative approach to creating his timeless, contemplative domestic scenes.
The Frick Collection
1 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021
