ABSTRACT
BEING IN MANHATTAN at street level is a very intense experience: busy, noisy and during the summer it is hot. The architecture of the Whitney Museum exudes a calmness that serves to relieve this. The interiors have massive, solid concrete walls with only a few window openings, and it is shaded, quiet and consequently a reflective place in which to view art. The Whitney Museum of American Art is an art museum founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a wealthy and prominent American socialite and art patron, after whom it was named. The foundation departed the building, which it still owns, in 2014 and it is now temporarily occupied by the Frick Collection. The era of the art collection has shifted further back in time, but the building’s intended use remains a gallery.
