I have lived an hour outside of New York for almost 20 years now, and I have absolutely no excuse for never having visited the Frick Collection.
And, of course, there are lots of other museums I’ve never visited. Like, most of them. Even when we had a 10-day tour in Paris, it was a cooking school field trip and we only made it to the lobby of the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay. (We did spend lots of time at the Pompidou, lest you think we’re total philistines.
But the Google Street Map concept has now been expanded to the interiors of the world’s museums.
As someone who thinks the museums are often as interesting as the artwork — a parallel to the attention I pay to storefront galleries as much as their wares — I’m ecstatic. Click here to stroll the Frick, which is actually a magnificent old private home off Fifth Avenue — the kind that was commonly bulldozed in the 20th century as the area commercialized. So it’s a good place to start.
There is also a separate viewer that focuses on the artwork, but I like the walk-through. And no busloads of tourists to crowd your view.