Few things in life—especially in New York—are free, but one of the best is stumbling upon artworks while traversing the city and experiencing them as an integral part of this dynamic epicenter of creative exchange.
- News , Isamu Noguchi (1938–39). Location: 50 Rockefeller Center. An example of what Noguchi termed "useful sculpture," this 6.7-meter-tall stainless steel relief is located at 50 Rockefeller Center—near Christie’s New York headquarters.
Noguchi’s News was the largest stainless steel relief ever produced when it was unveiled at Rockefeller Center. Photo by Tomás Fano/CC-SA-by 2.0
- Heads or Tails , Genesis Belanger (2026). Location: City Hall Park. Belanger is best known for her installations featuring everyday objects crafted from pastel-hued ceramics and exposed concrete.
- The Alamo , Tony Rosenthal (1967). Location: Astor Place. Just steps from the entrance to the Astor Place subway station, at the western edge of the East Village, Tony Rosenthal’s abstract sculpture Alamo has greeted passersby for over 59 years.
- Eyes , Louise Bourgeois (1995). Location: Wagner Park. Wagner Park, a waterfront green space in Lower Manhattan, reopened in 2025 following a two-year renovation that addressed climate resilience needs.
- Adam and Eve , Charles Ray (2023). Location: 385 Ninth Avenue. Charles Ray’s figurative and narrative sculptures challenge the viewer with the tension between reality and fiction, often referencing art history and popular culture. What better story to explore, then, than that of the Book of Genesis, with its account of the first humans' fall from Eden?
Adam and Eve are each sculpted from a solid block of stainless steel, together forming one of the few completed public sculptures by Charles Ray. Artwork: © Charles Ray, courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery. Photography: Timothy Schenck.
- The High Line, various artists, since 2009. Location: Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, between 10th and 12th Avenues. When trains stopped running 9 meters above Chelsea in 1980, a wild landscape emerged along the tracks.
- 7000 Oaks, Joseph Beuys (1982). Location: West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. The only public work in New York by Joseph Beuys—arguably the most important post-war German artist—is distributed throughout the Chelsea art district in the form of trees and stones.
- Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle (1947). Location: 35 E 76th Street. Prolific illustrator and writer Ludwig Bemelmans is best known as the author of the Madeline children's books, but his audience also included adults.
At Manuela, art is present in every corner, from tables by Mary Heilmann and a mushroom-shaped chandelier by Mika Rottenberg to works by Louise Bourgeois, Rashid Johnson, Duro Olowu, and Nicolas Party. Courtesy: Manuela.
- The Bear That Matters , Brendan Murphy (2026). Location: Hudson Yards Plaza. It is evident that Hudson Yards has established itself as a cultural hub on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan since its opening in 2019: Frieze New York is now held at The Shed—also a year-round destination for new artistic expressions and experiences—and Thomas Heatherwick’s interactive honeycomb-like sculpture gleams in Hudson Yards Plaza.
- Metropolitan Faces , Alex Katz (2019). Location: 57th Street subway station. Alex Katz’s most recognizable works are large-scale portraits of friends and family—simplified figures set against vividly colored backgrounds, stripped of context.
- Clemente Bar , Francesco Clemente (2024). Location: 11 Madison Avenue. Neapolitan artist Francesco Clemente has cultivated a connection to New York since the 1980s, when he moved to the city to study Sanskrit, subsequently collaborating with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and even Allen Ginsberg.
- Group of Four Trees , Jean Dubuffet (1969–1972). Location: 28 Liberty Plaza. Amidst the austere modernism of Wall Street, the abstract sculpture Group of Four Trees by Jean Dubuffet—commissioned by David Rockefeller—stands as a bold statement. Dubuffet’s group of four trees complements Isamu Noguchi’s sculpture
Sunken Garden , located on the same property and installed in 1964. Both works rebel against the rectilinear architecture of the Financial District. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.