Art lovers, this is the last weekend to visit our beloved Whitney in its current location on the Upper East Side. The museum will close its doors on Sunday, October 19, reopening on an unspecified date in the spring in its new Meatpacking District address. So…. This is a no-brainer. Take advantage of the ease of visiting the museum at 75th Street and Madison Avenue while you can.
Jeff Koons, Tulips, 1995–98. Oil on canvas
There you’ll see the final days of the Jeff Koons Retrospective that has been thrilling audiences for the past four months with installations on three floors. Some of his creations look familiar: the giant dog, for instance, that graced Rockefeller Plaza or perhaps his inflatables that include basketballs suspended in space, or the display of Hoover vacuum cleaners as beautiful as they are functional. Koons spins American culture on its head, noting our fascination with mundane objects and our glorification of them. You’ll see familiar faces from Popeye and Olive Oyl to Michael Jackson and La Cicciolina along with playdoh and mirrors, all crafted with precision and beauty.
On the top floor and mezzanine sit the museum’s permanent collection, for now, with works by Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns among others. These are the classics that we’ve come to know and love.
Don’t miss the chance to see all of these in their original home. The line to get in here can be long at times, but it moves pretty quickly. Doors open at 11am.
Whitney Museum of American Art, 945 Madison Avenue, 212-570-3600, www.whitney.org.
