Museum Mile Festival June, 2011

The 33rd Annual Museum Mile festival occurred on Tuesday the 14th of June, 2011, in New York City.

The event was advertised  in the New York Times for one day, listing the open museums from 82nd street to 105 th where the admission was free.  The only thing which might have improved this, would be that instead of 6-9 pm, the free admission should have been extended throughout the entire day.  The lines were very long, and it was really only possible to see one collection.

 We went on the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station, and then took a subway to the Times Square station to catch the shuttle train to Grand Central Station.  Then we transferred to the Lexington line so that we could get off at  86th street.

 This was the seat in the subway, colored a bright Red and advertising a new album.

 The whole subway car was plastered with Lady Gaga's image, and it reminded me of the "Pop Art" paintings of Andy Warhol in the 60's.

So even before we got to museum row, we were hammered with culture!

 Park Ave. from the crosswalk.

 We walked to 5th Ave.

 Before we got to 5th Ave. we saw the line to get into the Neue Gallerie on the corner of 86th Street.

 According to the membership pamphlet, the Neue Gallerie, this jewel of a museum "is devoted to early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design.  Located in a landmark mansion built in 1914 by the architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings."  The cafe presents the best chocolate deserts in the city.

It started to rain and the small umbrellas came out.

 It was a true festival with 5th Ave. closed off to traffic and venders all over the place selling hot dogs and pretzels, both requiring Gulden's Mustard, please.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is down near 82nd street, and the Guggenheim Museum is on 88th Street.  This building is always a standout, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, completed after his death in 1949.

 Did they bring their own chalk, or was it provided by the festival?

 Musicians played underneath Wright's iconic structure.

 A detail from one of Gustav Klimt's paintings.

A beautiful pinting by Egon Schiele.  I have only known his protraits, but this was an amazing large very square painting of a collection of houses.  The room that contained this painting, had two companion paintings by Klimt that were in the square format and of landcaspes with architiecture.  I knew Klimt as a portrait artist, but clearly these were worth waiting for out in the rain.