Artists with works in the collection include Bellini, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, Holbein, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, and Whistler.

In addition to its permanent collection, the museum has hosted small temporary exhibitions on narrowly defined topics, as well as academic symposiums, concerts, and classes.

[35] Amid this dispute, the collection was reassessed at $13 million in 1921;[30] this figure was repeated in a revised appraisal of Frick's estate that was filed with the New York state government in 1923.

[27][49][59] Although about 600 tickets were distributed daily to people who showed up in person,[60] other visitors had to make reservations several weeks in advance due to high demand.

[69] During World War II, the museum continued to host visitors, but some rooms were closed,[70] and more than five dozen paintings and all of the sculptures were moved into storage.

[79] The museum's collection remained largely unchanged over the next several years, as Helen Frick opposed any expansions, saying that her father would not have wanted items to be added.

[94] The original annex was canceled that November,[92] and Frick officials subsequently decided to build a one-story wing on the Widener House's site.

[113] The New York City government passed a law banning public institutions from discriminating by age in 1993, which would have forced the museum to start admitting children.

[119] In addition, the museum began providing complimentary audio guides for the mansion and artworks[29][121] and, in the early 21st century, added the Bloomberg Connects smartphone app.

[127] After attendance dropped following the September 11 attacks that year, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided $270,000, in part to fund extended hours on Fridays.

[131][147] Russell Page's garden on 70th Street would have been demolished to make way for the annex; this prompted opposition from residents and preservationists,[148][149] and the Frick announced in June 2015 that it would draw up new designs.

[173] In September 2024, the Frick hired Axel Rüger, the head of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, to serve as the museum's director beginning in 2025.

[184] Frick's collection initially consisted of salon pieces and works by Barbizon School artists,[24][7] and he bought 90 paintings from Charles Carstairs between 1895 and 1900 alone.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Frick bought works such as Rembrandt's Portrait of a Young Artist[185][237] (possibly the first Old Master painting in the collection[238]), Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot's Ville d'Avray,[237] Constant Troyon's A Pasture in Normandy,[237] and Vermeer's Girl Interrupted at Her Music.

[245][246] At the time of the house's completion, he owned paintings by such artists as El Greco, Goya, Hals, Rembrandt, Romney, Titian, Anthony van Dyck, and Velázquez.

[264] This was followed in the 1950s by three Italian Renaissance paintings,[265] David's portrait of Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni,[266] and Jan van Eyck's Virgin and Child, with Saints and Donor.

[269] The museum's other acquisitions in the 1990s and 2000s included one of Corot's oil sketches,[270] two of Jean-Baptiste Greuze's portraits,[271] and Gabriel de Saint-Aubin's The Private Academy.

[275] The modern-day museum's collection includes numerous works of sculpture and porcelain,[29][2] in addition to 18th-century French furniture, Limoges enamel, and Oriental rugs.

[256] Outside of the Morgan collection, Frick also bought the bronzes Bust of a Jurist by Danese Cattaneo, Antonio Galli by Federico Brandani, and Duke of Alba by Jacques Jonghelinck.

[97] Topics of temporary exhibitions during the 1980s included busts by Houdon,[314] French clocks,[176] terracotta sculptures by Clodion,[310] drawings by Ingres,[315] Henry Clay Frick's earliest acquisitions,[316] and Old Master paintings.

[354] The Frick's educational programs include online visits for students at secondary schools and postsecondary institutions,[355] as well as courses where a single piece is discussed at length.

[365][366] Musicians who have performed at the Frick Collection have included Ian Bostridge, Matthias Goerne, Guarneri String Quartet, Wanda Landowska, Gregor Piatigorsky, Artur Schnabel, and Kiri Te Kanawa.

[383][384] Inside the house are the museum's galleries (adapted from the old living spaces of the mansion), as well as a courtyard with reflecting pool,[385][377] the latter of which is based on a Roman atrium.

[18][390][389] The library has always been open to the public, except during World War II, when it was closed for six months,[389] and during the COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 renovation, when it was shuttered while being moved to the Frick Madison.

[397] The Frick is a member of the International Consortium of Photo Archives (PHAROS), which operates a database of digitized artworks from the collections of 14 art museums.

[186] Art World magazine said in 1917 that the Frick House contained "one of the most remarkable assemblies of old paintings in the United States belonging to a private collector", rivaling the collection of the former Lenox Library on the same site.

[424] Another New York Times critic called the museum "as frumpy and elegant as a dowager queen", describing the quality of its collection and the Frick House.

[428] A critic for the Daily Telegraph wrote in 2014 that the Frick was "the best small museum in New York, perfect if you don't fancy dealing with a crush of people at MoMA or the Met".

[429] When the museum was temporarily relocated to 945 Madison Avenue, one critic wrote that the temporary building was "an exercise in contrasts" with the Frick House's decorations and that "the vibe here is serious and meditative".

[165] Another critic wrote for Vogue that the Frick Madison was a "shock to the senses in every way" but that "the collection comes directly to the fore" amid that building's bare walls.