MTA Arts & Design

When the first line of what is now the New York City Subway opened in 1904, its founders declared that the railway was a "great public work" where every design element should show respect for customers and improve the experience of travel through beauty and efficiency.

[2] The commissioning of original artwork was intended to show riders that the system values their comfort and experience within stations.

Works use durable materials like ceramic tile and mosaic, bronze, stainless steel, glass and light.

[7] Notable artists commissioned through the program include Xenobia Bailey, Romare Bearden, Vito Acconci, Priscila De Carvalho, Jacob Lawrence, Ellen Harvey, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Jack Beal, Elizabeth Murray, Faith Ringgold, Duke Riley, Shinique Smith, Nancy Spero, Doug and Mike Starn and Tom Otterness' Life Underground.

It uses hundreds of aluminum mirrors to provide natural sunlight from a 53-foot skylight to an underground area as much as four stories deep.