Plan your visit.




Hours
Sonia Delaunay: Living Art is on view at the BGC Gallery through July 7, 2024. Please find the gallery hours below.

Monday: CLOSED
Tuesday: 11 am–5 pm
Wednesday: 11 am–8 pm
Thursday–Sunday: 11 am–5 pm

Purchase tickets here.
First Free Fridays
Join us on the first Friday of each month when Gallery hours are extended until 8 pm and admission is free all day long.

First Free Fridays will return March 1, 2024.
Admission
We encourage you to purchase tickets in advance. Timed ticket entry helps us maintain a safe capacity at all times. Please arrive at the time noted on your ticket, as we have limited lobby space for visitors who are waiting to enter. Tickets are valid for entry to BGC Gallery for the particular date reserved. For refunds and exchanges, please contact [email protected].

Same-day tickets are available at the door. Please note that Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s intimate townhouse setting provides the opportunity for visitors to look closely at the objects on view. To create a positive experience for all of our guests, we monitor capacity very closely. In the rare instances that we have reached our limit on a particular floor of the gallery, we may ask you to begin your visit on another floor or consider waiting to enter for 15–30 minutes.

Admission is complimentary for
  • Bard Graduate Center (BGC) members

  • People with disabilities and their care partners

  • American Alliance of Museums members

  • North American Reciprocal Museum Association members

  • Other museum / gallery staff members

Students: $6
Seniors: $12
All Others: $15

Bard Graduate Center participates in NYC Culture Pass, which offers free admission to those with New York, Brooklyn, and Queens Library cards.

BGC also offers complimentary need-based community tickets by request to all ticketed events. To learn more or make a request, email [email protected].
Getting Here

Bard Graduate Center Gallery
18 West 86th Street
(between Columbus and Central Park West)
New York, NY 10024


Click here to see a map of the area. BGC Gallery is easily accessible by public transportation. Use the information below as a general guide, or use MTA’s Trip Planner to get the most current information about the best route for you.

By Bus
Uptown: M10, M7 or M11 to 86th Street.
Downtown: M10, M7 or M11 to 86th Street.
Crosstown: M86 to Central Park West and 86th Street.

By Subway
B or C train to 86th Street and Central Park West; walk a half block west.
1 train to 86th Street and Broadway; walk two and half blocks east

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) offers reduced fares on its subways, buses, and commuter railroads to visitors with disabilities. Consult The MTA Guide to Accessible Transit for information about reduced fare programs, accessible stations, large print maps, and a variety of other ADA-accessible services MTA agencies provide.

By Car
On-street parking in the area is extremely limited. Several garages in the area charge hourly rates, including ones located at 87th Street and Columbus Avenue, 84th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, and 83rd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.

Accessibility
Bard Graduate Center Gallery’s exhibition spaces are sites for understanding, thoughtful questioning, and enjoyment for all people, and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

In the lobby of our gallery, staff are available to answer any questions about accessibility. Visitors may also email gallery@bgc.bard.edu or call 212.501.3023 for more information.

Visitors with disabilities are welcome to pay as they wish. Care partners and aids are always given complimentary admission when attending Bard Graduate Center with an individual with a disability.

Visitors with Limited Mobility

The main entrance to Bard Graduate Center Gallery is located at 18 West 86th Street. A wheelchair lift is available to transport visitors from the street level to the lobby of the gallery.


Inside the gallery, an elevator brings visitors to all four floors of exhibition space and the public spaces and restrooms on the lower level. A standard manual wheelchair (requires a companion to push) is available free of charge for visitors. Please email us at [email protected] to reserve a wheelchair or ask for one on arrival.

Wheelchair accessible restrooms are located on the lower level, where there are also lockers for coats and valuables and a water fountain.

We offer portable chairs on every floor of the gallery for any visitor who would prefer to sit while they look at the objects on view.

Visitors Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Assistive listening devices are available for all programs that take place in our lecture hall.

American Sign Language interpretation and CART captioning is available for Bard Graduate Center programs by request with two weeks’ notice.

To place a request for additional services, email [email protected] or call 212.501.3023. These services are provided free of charge.

Visitors with Vision Loss

One-time use large-print labels are available and also can be downloaded from our website. Verbal description tours of exhibitions are available by request. Join a Bard Graduate Center Gallery educator in conversation and explore a selection of objects through detailed verbal description and touch.

Service Dogs

All service dogs are welcome.
Amenities

Coat Check

Bard Graduate Center Gallery does not staff a coat check; however, visitors to the gallery may hang their coats in the coat closet on the lower level. BGC Gallery is not responsible for loss or damage.

WiFi
Connect to the BGC Gallery free WiFi network to access the audio guide and engage with digital content.
Tours

Bard Graduate Center offers tours on select Thursdays. Visit our events page for tour dates and to book.

About Bard Graduate Center

Bard Graduate Center is a research institute in New York City that studies the human past through objects, from those created for obvious aesthetic value to ordinary things that are part of everyday life. Faculty members are drawn from the fields of art history, history, anthropology, archaeology, and materials science. Alumni of BGC’s highly regarded MA and PhD programs hold curatorial and academic positions at important institutions around the world. And BGC’s summer programs for teens and advanced undergraduate students expose emerging scholars to its interdisciplinary, object-based approach.


Bard Graduate Center Gallery occupies a six-story townhouse at 18 West 86th Street steps from Manhattan’s Central Park. A second townhouse at 38 West 86th Street houses our academic programs, lecture hall, and library. To learn more about BGC’s academic programs, visit bgc.bard.edu.

Contact Us
212.501.3023
[email protected]

You can also stay in touch with everything that’s happening at BGC by connecting with us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, or by signing up for our newsletters.
Visitor Policies and COVID Safety
Bard Graduate Center (BGC) Gallery’s policies reflect our commitment to create a safe and comfortable environment for everyone who visits our buildings. Our institution is mask-friendly; we support and encourage those who wish to wear one. All visitors must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and follow the safety guidelines and policies outlined below. BGC reserves the right to ask visitors who do not follow these guidelines to leave.

Stay home if you feel sick

Please do not visit BGC Gallery if you have a fever or any COVID-19 symptoms, have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 14 days, or have had close contact with anyone who is confirmed to have or suspected of having COVID-19.

Vaccination required

Bard Graduate Center requires up-to-date vaccination against COVID-19 as defined by the Centers for Disease Control.

Social distancing is encouraged

We recommend keeping at least six feet from others not in your party when possible.

Follow signs and directions from BGC staff members
Follow the guidance of BGC staff, who are monitoring visitor traffic throughout the building. They are there to help keep everyone safe and comfortable. Visitors who do not follow posted instructions from our staff will be asked to leave.

Risk of exposure

An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public space where people are present. By visiting BGC Gallery, you acknowledge and voluntarily assume all risk to any potential exposure to COVID-19.

General policies

Bard Graduate Center is dedicated to new research in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture. Our exhibitions reflect the scholarly pursuits of BGC curators, faculty members, alumni, and students, and they serve as the basis for collaboration with colleagues at institutions elsewhere in the city and around the world.

In this spirit of collaboration and inquiry, we encourage discussion of the exhibitions among individual visitors and those who participate in our guided tours.


Do not touch the objects on display.

Food, drink, smoking, e-cigarettes, weapons, and firearms are strictly prohibited.

Oversized items (larger than 17x15x5 inches), including luggage, backpacks, large purses or tote bags, garment bags, wrapped gifts, strollers, bicycles, scooters, and camera extension poles, are not permitted in the gallery. Lockers are available on the lower level of the Gallery if you need to store oversized items.

Unless otherwise noted, you may take photographs in the gallery for personal, non-commercial purposes only. Flash photography is not permitted.

As a visitor to BGC Gallery, you may be photographed, videotaped, or otherwise recorded. By attending, you grant BGC Gallery permission to use photographs and/or audiovisual recordings in which you appear for archival, documentary, publicity, advertising, or other purposes.

BGC staff and visitors have the right to an environment free from abusive, threatening, or inappropriate behavior. BGC reserves the right to remove any person acting in an unacceptable or inappropriate manner.