Frick Announces Move From Madison Back To Reno'd Mansion

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Frick announced this week that the famed collection will be returning to their forever home at the Frick Mansion on Fifth Avenue and East 70th Street by the end of 2024.

Their temporary über-modern Breuer Building location at 945 Madison Ave. — the former home of 50 years for the Whitney Museum — will close on March 3, 2024.

But the final special presentation at the Frick Madison is not one to miss and features one of the most iconic works of the Frick's permanent collection paired with an old friend from over 400 years ago.

Ian Wardropper, The director of the Frick Collection, called their time at the Breuer Building "rewarding and productive," and that the institution was "especially gratified to welcome new audiences to Frick Madison."

"We look forward to the remaining months of our time at 945 Madison Avenue, as we continue to gain new insights into our collection by seeing it reframed in this unprecedented way," said Wardropper.

And the Frick has plenty in store for its final year on Madison Avenue.

In June, the Frick Madison will debut a site-specific mural created by Nicolas Party.

Come September, the museum will feature a special exhibition of portraits by Barkley L. Hendrick.

And in November, a can't-miss rare and special presentation of one of the collection's most iconic works, in a reunion with a 400-year-old friend, will bring crowds to Madison Avenue and East 75th Street.

Giovanni Bellini's 540-year-old "St. Francis in the Desert," considered by many to be the finest Renaissance painting in the United States, will be on display alongside Giorgione's 500-year-old "Three Philosophers" — on a rare loan this fall and winter from Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum — from Nov. 9 until Feb. 4.

The two paintings were actually both owned by collector Taddeo Contarini, and this installation will be the first time in over 400 years that the two masterworks, displayed for decades next to each other in Contarini’s palazzo, will be presented together.

Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, said the special presentation, called "Bellini and Giorgione in the House of Taddeo Contarini," will "pair the beloved paintings" in a "chapel-like gallery at Frick Madison."

"I can’t think of a better coda for what has been a remarkable temporary home for our collection and staff during the critical renovation of our buildings,” said Salomon.