Whitney Museum of American Art

The Whitney Museum of American Art anchors the southern end of the High Line, its asymmetrical, pale blue-grey steel form a distinct marker between the park and the Hudson River. Designed by Renzo Piano, the building is a stack of different-sized blocks that responds to the industrial character of the Meatpacking District. A large cantilevered entrance on Gansevoort Street creates a sheltered public plaza, connecting the sidewalk to the museum’s main lobby. Inside, the galleries are spacious and filled with natural light from large windows and skylights. The fifth floor has a massive, 18,000-square-foot gallery with no columns, a space built for large-scale exhibitions. You can move between the eight floors using either stairs or large elevators. The ground-floor lobby gallery is always free to enter, sitting adjacent to the museum’s bakery. The museum’s collection is dedicated exclusively to 20th and 21st-century American art, with a permanent collection that includes foundational figures like Edward Hopper, Alexander Calder, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Its signature event is the Whitney Biennial, an influential survey of what’s happening in contemporary American art right now. A visit here naturally incorporates the building’s cascading outdoor terraces. These east-facing spaces function as open-air sculpture galleries that look out over the High Line and the city. From these terraces, the views of the skyline and the river are expansive, and they are a primary reason people come. The eighth floor has the Studio Bar, which opens onto the highest terrace and is a popular spot to watch the sunset over the water. Be aware that the museum offers free admission on certain evenings and weekends, which usually means longer lines to get in.