The best free art exhibitions in NYC to visit

New York City nestles some top-notch museums in a maze of busy streets and world-renowned restaurants. Explore the best free art exhibitions in NYC. They include art, architecture, photography, natural history, television, literature, and technology. If you skip the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, or Museum of Modern Art, you’ll miss out on a lot. What's more, they're all available for free if you have a New York Pass. After your Manhattan movers settle you in, you can visit some amazing free art exhibitions in NYC with it. Likewise, don't forget the Van Courtland House Museum, the Museum of Sex, or Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Explore the top free art exhibitions in NYC with our help

Looking for a dose of some free art, culture fanatics? You are in the right place. We know where all of the gratis art exhibits and museums are. You won’t have to get your wallet out other than to plan your relocation like a pro. Visit reputable institutions like the American Museum of Natural History and FLAG Art Foundation and still have that lunch at one of the best restaurants in NYC.

Some of the free art exhibitions in NYC happen to be some of the most interesting shows in town!

1. American Museum of Natural History

First of all, we have to post a little note here: the tickets for this museum are not always and not 100% free. For example, if you want to get tickets in advance and online, you'll pay the full price. Also, if you enter gratis, you will not have permission to see the Hayden Planetarium Show or the IMAX.However, with the New York Pass, you will have free entry to the Natural History Museum year-round. Furthermore, it will grant you the time to explore all the exhibits on your own schedule and to your liking.

Ignite your curiosity about the universe at the beloved 148-year old NYC icon

Enjoy the show-stopping displays like the 94-foot blue whale and Tyrannosaurus Rex. If you like the prehistoric era, your movers NYC recommend you explore taxidermy specimens, fossils, and anthropological artifacts. The Natural History Museum is an unmissable place in the Big Apple.

The American Natural History Museum is one of the largest most famous museums in the world. It shelters millions of artifacts.

Established in 1869, the museum has given many generations a chance to explore the history of the world

Treat yourself with four floors of science, geological discoveries and history full of incredible exhibits. To clarify, the museum is a complex of 28 interconnected buildings. Additionally, those buildings nestle 45 permanent exhibition rooms. Most importantly, it has a mesmerizing planetarium and an incredible library. Certainly, its proudest displays are the 122-foot long Titanosaur skeleton and the Ahnighito. The dinosaur became part of the museum in 2016 and scientists believe it was a 70-ton herbivore. On the other hand, Ahnighito is a 34-ton heavy piece of the 200-ton Cape York meteorite. That is to say, it’s the largest meteorite you can see in any of the museums in the world!

• Hall of Biodiversity

Few free art exhibitions in NYC offer mammoths at the display. So rush over to the Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Biodiversity if you want to travel back in time. Stroll slowly, though, because you can expect to see a few wild Siberian Tigers lurking from the displays.

• Human Origins and Cultural Halls

One of the top free art exhibitions in NYC you need to visit also showcases a lot of displays that shed light on the origin of human beings. In the Human Origins and Cultural Halls, you will find breathtaking pieces of the past that put together tell a story about who we are as humans.

2. New York Public Library Tours

The New York Public Library is not just an NYC landmark, it’s an icon. Certainly, any visitor can instantly recognize the two legendary lions on the sides of the grand staircase leading up to the entry.

The Library’s architecture alone is one of the best free exhibitions in NYC you can find!

• Its facade is a magnificent example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture. But what this building symbolizes is more than just superficial beauty or literature.
• It has been a beacon for the democratic ideal of free and open access to knowledge ever since its opening day in 1911. The iconic library is home to some of the world-renowned collections in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts.
• It is just one of the four research centers that form part of this establishment. It is just one puzzle piece in the network including 88 neighborhood branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island.

3. Hannah Levy, Bone-in, 2019

• Location: Jeffrey Stark, Chinatown, available until Aug 11, 2019

Hannah Levy’s installation has a high-concept setup in Jeffrey Stark’s micro gallery. A giant femur is there to remind us of everyday objects that we tend to overlook or ignore. It can be interpreted in many ways, but we want to think that the giant bone, wedged diagonally into a space too small for it to fit in, is an invitation to think about the invisible things that make our visible world possible. The stainless steel femur recalls Hannah’s jumbo stalks of asparagus. And viewed in the light of her previous works, could also represent a shift from representations of the extensions of the body (medical equipment, handrails, chairs) to an actual part of the human body.

Dutch artist Mark Manders puts a new perspective on Face-timing by being part of the free art exhibitions in NYC circle at Central Park.

4. Mark Manders, Tilted Head, 2019

• Location: Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Upper East Side, available: until Sep 1, 2019

The Tilted Head appears to have been cut in half, and it seems to recline on the edges of the Doris C. Freedman Plaza next to the park. It looks like it was made out of (cracked) clay and wood, but it was in fact cast in bronze, which is a specialty of the artist. The Tilted head looks like it is sleeping, dreaming of the greenery around. We are just left to wonder how will even the most experienced NYC art movers be able to relocate it after the exhibition closes? What adds beauty to the sculpture even more to this poetic sculpture is that it's an ode to Mander’s original wish to be a writer.