Perhaps this magic is due to its cosmopolitan nature, where residents and visitors alike can find themselves in the presence of the imposing St. Patrick’s Cathedral, nestled in the heart of the city and surrounded by skyscrapers, or in a doorway can see two Muslim men on their prayer shawls, or come across several ultra-Orthodox Jews, dressed in their characteristic attire, walking towards the synagogue. That’s New York.
The same one that is full of smells in every corner, from the one that sells hot dogs, the one that emanates from a pizzeria, the one that stirs up the city by cooking various foods in food trucks. A unique rhythm where the sound of the subway moving underground is incorporated into everyday life, where the sirens of the firemen or police making their way through the large towers, become integrated into the populous city, while heat and breeze emanate from the vents of underground transportation. The city of the bizarre and the classic, of the vital and the conservative. The great metropolis of the unimaginable.
Behind the walls of some emblematic buildings lies the art of the great masters and periods. However, beyond the museums In addition to the better-known museums, which are located on the so-called “museum mile,” there are others that host Latin American artists and display rich, intense and visually suggestive art.
Visit to the Whitney Museum
This museum focused on American art is located on the banks of the Hudson River. In its halls you can see the pieces that make up the 2024 Biennial, with its tempting title Even better than the real thingwhich exhibits some 70 works by North American artists and others who were born in the country but are descendants of immigrants. This variety gives the pieces in the biennial a wide aesthetic and thematic range, which shows the great diversity offered by artistic creation in a multicultural and multiethnic nation.
Something that stands out and is appreciated at the Whitney Museum of American Art is that the captions next to each painting appear in English and Spanish, which highlights the appreciation that the museum’s directors place on the Hispanic public that visits the institution.
The canvases that make up the Whitney Biennial 2024 undoubtedly contribute to projecting the culture of the different countries and their expressive tendencies. A notable presence of women is evident in the exhibition. The installation by Charisse Pearlina Weston, made on glass, is impressive; the oil painting by Mavis Pusey, a Jamaican artist with a lot of movement in her strokes.
Another installation is being contributed to the Cannupa Biennial by Hanska Luger, which uses materials such as used fabrics, found objects and clay, which “shows the artist’s commitment to sustainability and reuse.”
Eamon Ore-Giron’s piece on Inca and Aztec motifs is one of the best of this eighty-first Whitney Biennial. Something moving, it was a poem, or rather an invocation that in three panels, in English, Spanish and Kaqchikel, the Guatemalan poet, actress and cultural manager Rosa Chávez, asks permission in her poem from the spirits of the road to live: “let me cross the ravine, the hollow, / please let me return to my house / before the volcanoes sing / before the discourse of the hills / spits in our mouths.”
La Hispanic Society Museum
Away from the bustling city centre in upper Manhattan is the Hispanic Society Museum, one of New York’s most welcoming and surprising museums, which displays important pieces by the Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla (1863-1923), as well as a painting by Velázquez and an extraordinary Goya, this one a portrait of the Duchess of Alba, a beautiful, provocative woman ahead of her time.
The first impression upon arriving at the Sociedad Hispana is the majestic building, its steps and the sculptures of the great conquerors outside announcing that the visitor is entering a part of history.
The museum, nestled in the heart of Washington Heights, has an air of living history. Spanish is spoken in every corner, tropical fruits are sold on the sidewalks. The atmosphere is predominantly Latin, relaxed and fun. The museum building is captivating with its beauty and presence.
Although the masters Velázquez and Goya stand out with their paintings, the Goya one is large and rectangular, while the Velázquez one is more modest, the Sorolla room surprises the visitor.
It is a circular room, which allows a 360-degree view of the set of 14 panels, which describe scenes of Spanish life, hence the title of the series, Vision of SpainThe permanent exhibition of the Sorollas is the museum’s main attraction. The positive impact caused by the master’s visit to the museum in 1909 encouraged Archer Milton Huntington, founder of the Hispanic Society, to commission the artist to paint large canvases in 1911, something that became a reality over the years.
The oil-on-canvas panels are fascinating, depicting a scene of the Nazarenes during the Holy Week processions in Seville, or fishermen working with tuna. An intense oil painting, imposing due to the strength of the scene it depicts. The essence of the 14 panels is to narrate scenes of everyday life in Spain: bullfighters, Galician pilgrimages and the bread festival, one of the most pleasant pieces.
New York is a vast world of excitement and discovery, providing a wealth of culture. Behind the walls of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Hispanic Society Museum lies a unique life experience that locals and visitors alike have within their reach.
Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, NY 10014. Página web:
Hispanic Society Museum, 613 W 155th St, New York, NY 10032. Página web:
