New York City Art Tour – Parrott Tours

When you choose a tour company started by an artist and an art historian, you can pretty much expect to see and hear about a lot of art!  And there’s no better place in the world that has so many museums, art centers, and art basically beaming at you from nearly every corner, than New York City!  While most of our tours will cover an aspect of outdoor art, this tour offers a focused trek travelling to specific sites and neighborhoods, which are not typically included in any other of our tours.  

 

An Art Tour with a Difference

The object of this tour is to see art in public and learn about their process of creation or raison d’etre.  In short, we are going to show you inside and out of this unique and vibrant (and incredibly competitive) art scene!  With hundreds of art galleries and some of the finest museums in the world, New York City has it all covered! Come with us as we explore what is hot in the art market now or enjoy a stroll through the work of the legends of the art world from antiquity to today.  Whether an original or a reproduction, you just might be going home with an artwork of your own!

 

Art Tour Types

We offer specialized tours that concentrate on a single aspect of “art type,” or combine all three to make it your own experience! These are: Public Art, Explore the Met and Gallery Hop.  Each are approximately 2 hours, not including transportation to/from. We are happy to meet you at your hotel and drop you off at a given location—this will add 1 additional hour.

 

Public Art Tour

During our Public Art Tour while admiring and interacting with various works of art, our guests will learn what are different agencies that commission art in the urban spaces and why, and who pays for them!  These include subway stations, parks, public plazas, atria, and buildings.  Depending on your choice, or at your guide’s discretion we combine a leisurely stroll through artsy neighborhoods of NYC exploring various forms of artistic expression in the open. 

 

Explore the Met museum tour

Our Explore the Met Museum Tour consists of an 1hr museum highlights tour, and 30 mins on own/museum gift store time, but we can adapt according to our guests’ more specific interests.  The Met Museum is the third largest museum in the world and there’s a lot to see—something interesting for everyone!  Our tours are custom-made and can be adapted according to your specific interests, but we tend to focus on American art, which has a separate wing, where we can demonstrate how New York became a major player on the world’s art scene.  Our guests will stand in front of some breathtaking landscapes of the American nature, while learning about important founding fathers of what eventually became known as the American School of Art.  From Thomas Cole, John Singer Sargent to Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol our guests will leave with an appreciation and knowledge of American Art, rivaling the better-known European counterpart.  And we will even stand in front of one of the largest paintings ever painted!

 

Gallery Hop Tour

During the Gallery Hop tour, we visit 4-5 galleries located in Chelsea, one of the neighborhoods in Manhattan, known as a Contemporary Art district.  We will briefly walk along a fragment of the Highline and look at some of the architectural gems as well as visit iconic Chelsea Market.  The galleries visited are chosen based on a theme or specific artists and/or an interest and vary greatly.

 

Art Tour Pricing

• $400 for 3h Public Art Tour. Tour around the city with respect public art/urban art of various forms from architectural monuments, sculptures, to murals and statues.  

• $350 3h museum tours (currently offering the Metropolitan Museum of Art only)

• $400 for a 3hr Chelsea Art Galleries, contemporary art tour. Tour the powerhouses of contemporary art market, get acquainted with emerging and well-established artists of the 21st century and maybe even go home with a “small” work of art too!d

 

* Large groups/ corporate accounts and school/student trips can be accommodated and are in the form of a Scavenger Hunt.

** All tour durations include respective transportation time.