NEW YORK—Though gray clouds are still gathering above the art market, ARTINFO has decided to ignore the depressive, recessive, nay-saying, gloom-and-doomy headlines for a moment to remind ourselves that art’s true value has never been monetary. While it’s not hard these days to imagine a not-too-far-off future reeking of rotting monuments to the great booming art market of the 2000-naughts — a landscape strewn with Hirsts oozing formaldehyde, dulled hulking Koonses, and tossed-off Murakami trinkets — we know that whatever happens, there will still be a place for art. It’s not just that art cannot declare bankruptcy, default, or fail due to a run of panicked investors; it’s that art always has, and always will, offer the sorts of pleasures you’ll never find in an account statement.

Here, ARTINFO highlights five recently opened museum shows in New York that remind us of art’s inherent, recession-proof value.

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