Think spring: Kiki Smith’s The Presence is one of the artist’s five large-scale murals recently installed in the Grand Central Madison commuter rail terminal.
Photographer: Anthony VerdeGoing Deep on the Modern Art of the New York City Subway
The city’s vast transit system is also a trove of more than 400 works of contemporary art, all overseen by the New York MTA’s Arts & Design program.
When Long Island Rail Road commuters got their first look at Grand Central Madison, a $11.1 billion commuter train stop underneath Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal that opened in Midtown Manhattan in January 2023, they were greeted by a number of design flourishes. In addition to its grandiose architecture, which plays off of the landmark early 20th century train hall above it, the 700,000-square-foot facility features a series of five large nature-themed glass mosaics by artist Kiki Smith, a 120 foot-long mosaic by Yayoi Kusama on the station’s concourse level, and several digital installations by other artists.
The visuals of Grand Central Madison come thanks to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Arts & Design program, which has overseen the installation of 400 permanent artworks throughout the city’s subway and commuter rail stations, bringing contemporary art to a complex system that shuttles millions of riders around the five boroughs and its surrounding suburbs daily. It’s now one of the biggest collections of site-specific contemporary public art in the world.