Neue Gallerie's New Approach : $50 to See $$$ Klimt

What does a $135 million Klimt buy you? The ability to charge $50 for admission to see it, apparently. The Neue Galerie, the tiny, gorgeous Fifth Avenue museum, received the $135 million painting as a gift from Ronald Lauder, and has been earning rave reviews from critics for the gilded Klimt painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer I. And now, it is putting a $50 price tag on the chance to see her on the gallery's usual closed day - Wednesday, as it rides a publicity wave. The Neue explained the price hike using the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which announced it was raising the suggested general admission to $20 last week, as an example, noting the Met's $50 admission on Mondays for special exhibits. We're trying to think of people who would pay $50 on Wednesday while they could pay $15 on other days, but we suppose those people might be scholars, tourists with a Klimt hankering, and those who can use a write-off.

Will you be headed to the Neue? We highly recommend the cafe, Cafe Sabarsky for its goulash and yummy yummy tortes. And seeing Adele Bloch-Bauer I (along with four other Klimts on loan) is so hot, the Neue's brochure was even on eBay.

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By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment, News on July 18, 2006 9:49 AM

Comments [rss]

the man

it's a good thing that they are taking steps to insure that the masses will not have access to art.

wouldn't want to delute the experience by allowing common people to lay eyes on work of the masters.

Meredith

FIFTY DOLLARS?! That is insanity.

Dowager

$135 million for a Klimt?!? Ronald, you got robbed.

romary

no-ski.......doesn't the lucky gene pool member have enuf money?

decafisevil

The attempt to gouge people (or widen the class gap even further) is disgusting, and I'm not referring strictly to Neue Gallerie.

Viola

Nope, "scholars" won't pay fifty bucks to see a Klimt painting, or even to see the five now on view at the Neue Galerie - and not only because scholars are so poorly paid. If they have any sense, they have press passes, museum passes, or other nifty connections to let them do their work without paying those crazy prices. I saw those Klimts in Vienna years ago, where they looked terrific, and more recently in LA, where the installation was truly hideous. I look forward to seeing them again, for free, this week in NY.