"A jewel box of a museum, the Neue Galerie occupies a former Gilded Age Beaux-Arts mansion (completed in 1914) on a quiet block of the Upper East Side. The museum is dedicated entirely to 19th-century German and Austrian art and design, with a collection that spans paintings, furniture, sculpture, photography, and manuscripts. The star attraction, arguably, is Gustav Klimt's mesmerizing and iconic painting, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, completed in 1907. It was sold to the museum's founder, Ronald Lauder, in 2006 for $135 million. Rotating exhibits on the mansion's third level give visitors colorful glimpses into the lesser-known and appreciated annals of European art during that period." - Andrea Whittle, Charlie Hobbs
Courtesy Neue Gallery