Everyone knows about Bushwick. Everyone’s done the DUMBO walls walk. And while those neighborhoods have earned their reputations — genuinely — New York’s public art conversation has moved uptown, into Central Park, across Harlem, and into corners of the city that most art tourists never reach. Right now, in May 2026, there is a monumental sculpture of an ancient Egyptian deity standing at the entrance to Central Park and it is completely free to walk up and touch. You should know about this.
★ DON’T MISS: Monira Al Qadiri’s First Sun at Doris C. Freedman Plaza
This is the one. First Sun is a majestic painted aluminum sculpture of a hybrid human-scarab figure, reimagined from the ancient Egyptian deity Khepri — god of the rising sun — by Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri. The work stands at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, at the southeast corner of Central Park (60th Street and 5th Avenue) and is on view through August 2, 2026.
The sculpture is iridescent, androgynous, and monumental — and it stops people cold. Al Qadiri was inspired by a visit to the Tomb of Pharaoh Ramses I in Egypt, where she encountered a painting of the scarab-faced god. Her version presents Khepri as a contemporary figure, underscoring what she describes as the modern divide between humans and the natural world, and reminding us of ancient cultures in which even insects were revered. The sun has been personified across cultures as male, female, and everything in between — this sculpture sits intentionally in that intersection.
It’s free. It’s outside. It’s on permanent public display at one of the most accessible spots in Manhattan. After you see it, you can walk directly into Central Park, which contains its own year-round collection of public art.
Getting there: Take the N/R/W to 5th Ave–59th St or the 4/5/6 to 59th St. Freedman Plaza is right at the park entrance. Source: publicartfund.org
The High Line: Free Art in a Permanent Open-Air Gallery
The High Line maintains one of the most consistently interesting rotating public art programs in the city. Running from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District up through Hudson Yards, the elevated park integrates commissioned works, sculptures, and site-specific installations along its 1.45-mile length. Admission to the High Line itself is always free. Check thehighline.org/art for current installations — the programming rotates throughout the year and there’s almost always something worth making the walk for.
Harlem: The Neighborhood That Has Always Been a Canvas
Harlem’s relationship with public art runs deeper than any single installation or curated program. The neighborhood has been a canvas for Black artists, community muralists, and street painters for generations, and that tradition is alive and visible today on virtually every block between 110th and 145th Streets.
The stretch of Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 110th and 125th Streets has seen significant mural activity in recent years, as has the area around 125th Street — Harlem’s main commercial artery — where building-scale murals and painted facades celebrate local history and contemporary Black culture. Walk it without a map. That’s the right way to experience it.
For a more structured approach, the NYC Department of Transportation’s Art program (nyc.gov/dot) funds and coordinates temporary murals on city infrastructure across all five boroughs, including multiple installations in Harlem. The DOT Art program has permitted installations citywide — their website lists active works and locations, so you can plan a route before you go.
A Suggested Uptown Art Walk: Central Park to Harlem
Here’s a route that takes under two hours and hits more public art per block than almost anything you’ll do downtown:
Start: Doris C. Freedman Plaza (60th & 5th Ave) — see the Monira Al Qadiri sculpture. Enter Central Park and walk north along the East Drive or the Reservoir loop, noting the scattered sculptures and installations throughout.
Exit at 110th Street (Central Park North) and head west. This puts you at the edge of Harlem immediately. Walk north on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd or Frederick Douglass Blvd toward 125th Street. Keep your eyes on the walls.
At 125th Street, turn in any direction and walk. This is Harlem’s spine — large-scale murals, painted gates, community art in every direction. The Studio Museum in Harlem (144 W 125th St) is on this block and free to visit on Sundays, with a mission centered entirely on artists of African descent and their influence on American art.
Continue north to 135th–145th if you have time — the side streets in this stretch have some of the most vivid, politically engaged murals in the city, often created by local artists in response to community events rather than institutional commissions.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Is Still Worth It
We’ve covered Woody De Othello’s Guardian Spirit extensively — the monumental redwood and bronze sculptures at Pier 1 and the DUMBO Manhattan Bridge View (Washington St & Plymouth St) are on view through March 8, 2027. If you haven’t been yet, combine it with the uptown walk above for a full-day art tour across boroughs. Both are completely free and outdoors.
NYC DOT Art: The Program Most People Don’t Know About
The NYC Department of Transportation’s public art program funds temporary murals, sculptures, and installations across all five boroughs on city-owned infrastructure — pedestrian plazas, concrete barriers, asphalt spaces, and other street-level surfaces. Over time, the program has supported installations in every neighborhood and has a particular strength in outer-borough locations that don’t typically make the art-tourism circuit. The full active project list is at nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/dotart.shtml.
This is the resource you want if you’re trying to find public art in Queens, Staten Island, or the Bronx — neighborhoods where institutional programs have historically underinvested and where community-driven art is doing the real work.
What’s Coming: Genesis Belanger at City Hall Park (Opens June 2)
Pencil this in: on June 2, Public Art Fund opens Heads or Tails by Genesis Belanger at City Hall Park in downtown Manhattan. Three sculptural vignettes that bridge contemporary anxieties with the architectural language of the city’s oldest park. Free. Outdoor. Right in the middle of downtown. We’ll have a full guide closer to the opening.
New York’s public art is having a genuinely great year. The mistake is thinking you have to go to Bushwick to find it. Step outside. Walk uptown. Look at the walls. The city is the gallery.
