Queer Art in New York Museums

Photo Credit: Matthieu Joannon / Unsplash

No matter what your kink is, you will find a museum about it in New York City. From the Poster House to the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage and the Girl Scout Museum, there is literally a gallery dedicated to preserving the memory and history of every interest possible. As of 2021, the Museum Hack listed 145 institutions focused on different themes. So it's pretty shameful that took so long for the Gay Rights Movement to finally get a place to save its history!

Only in June this year, it was announced that the New-York Historical Society's building located in Central Park West, right in front of the American Museum of Natural History, would be updated to welcome the American LGBTQ+ Museum. The institution should open its doors in 2024 - finally. Artifacts, posters, images, and other memorabilia showcasing the history of the Gay Rights Movement, from the Stonewall protests to the HIV/AIDS activism of groups, will be preserved in the space.

While the new institution is still under construction, there are other museums in New York City that you can visit to learn more about queer art and history. Here’s a guide for you!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Price: $25 for adults; $17 for seniors; $12 for students - For New York State Residents and NY, NJ, CT students, the amount you pay for tickets is up to you.
Address: 82nd Street with Fifth Avenue
Subway: 86th Street, lines 4, 5, and 6.

This is the largest museum in the Western Hemisphere, with a collection of more than two million items and the most-visited museum in the United States. The Met attracts over 6 million people per year and covers the history of humanity from ancient times to the present. No matter if you are really into art or just want to know the place where Anna Wintour throws her annual gala ball. 

You will find masterpieces referencing same-sex love in the Met's collection, such as "The Musicians" by Caravaggio, "The Horse Fair" by the queer cross-dresser Rosa Bonheur, and "Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus" by Poussin. And let's not forget all the remarkable Greek and Roman sculptures.

The Whitney Museum of American Art
Price: $25 for adults; $18 for seniors; free for youth (under 18 years old). Museum admission is Pay-What-You-Wish on Fridays, 7–10 pm.
Address: 99 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014
Subway: 14 St/8 Av on C & E. 

The Whitney is considered the country's leading venue of the most recent developments in American art. The institution often purchases works from artists before they are even recognized nationally. Its collection has over 25,000 pieces created by American artists during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The museum focused on living artists, and it's constantly organizing tours and exhibitions concentrated on queer history and exploring the work of influential artists like Andy Warhol, Catherine Opie, and Zoe Leonard.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation
Price: $25 for adults; $18 for seniors and visitors with disabilities. Museum admission is Pay-What-You-Wish on selected Saturdays, 4-6 pm.
Address: 1071 5th Ave, New York, NY 10128
Subway: 86th Street on 6. 

Right in the middle of the Upper East Side jungle, you will find this institution dedicated to promoting the understanding of art - mainly modern and contemporary art. Its collection is famous for having masterpieces from Cézanne, Gauguin, and Van Gogh. You will also find the work of artists who are constantly discussing gender and sexuality, like Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Roni Horn, and Wu Tsang.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
Price: Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10
Address: 11 W 53rd St, New York, Y 10019
Subway: 5 Avenue-53 St Station on E & M

In the late 40s, the Museum of Modern Art was criticized for having a high number of gays and lesbians on the staff. In fact, the LGBTQ+ community was always represented inside the MoMa, where highly influential curators of the American art scene made a name for themselves, like the architect Philip Johnson, William S. Lieberman, Frank O'Hara, and Arthur Drexler.

Since 2015, MoMa is also home to a mass-produced version of one of the first rainbow flags created by Gilbert Baker in 1978. Fun fact: Baker led a group of 30 volunteers at the Gay Community Center in San Francisco to hand-dye and stitch rainbow flags for the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade on June 25 of that year. He believed the rainbow was a natural flag in the sky and, just like that, created the official pride symbol.

Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art
Price: Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10
Address: 26 Wooster St, New York, NY 10013
Subway: Canal Street on A & C. 

In 1987, during the height of the AIDS pandemic, Charles Leslie and Fritz Lohman decided to create the world's first museum dedicated to LGBTQ art. Thus, the Leslie Lohman Museum was born with a mission of embracing and fostering queer artists. The institution now has more than 25,000 pieces from more than 1,9000 LGBTQ+ artists. Its permanent collection includes work by Catherine Opie, Robert Mapplethorpe, Neel Bate, and Andy Warhol.

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