Laura Jean Allen, The New Yorker cover, March 17, 1975
A long as there have been museums, there have arguably been museum postcards, though there may be fewer of them being sold these days thanks to the fact that smartphones make it easy to take pictures of the art. However, just as a Kindle doesn’t quite replicate the experience of holding a book, using a tiny screen to look at a Picasso doesn’t have the feel of handling a high-quality reproduction of one, printed on nice, thick cardstock. Which may account for the fact that postcards still do a brisk business at museums in NYC. But have you ever wondered which postcards were the most popular? We did. So we canvased the city’s four biggest museums to find out, and what we discovered was a bit surprising. For instance, many people seem to prefer views of the museums themselves, while works by Van Gogh and Warhol are among the heavily favored. See for yourself with a look at the top museum postcards.
