Museum of Modern Art
About the Museum
The Museum of Modern Art, known everywhere as MoMA, holds the most influential collection of modern and contemporary art in the world. Founded in 1929 by three collectors, Lillie Bliss, Mary Quinn Sullivan and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, it was the first museum devoted entirely to the art of its own time, and its first director, Alfred Barr, wrote the story of modern art that most museums still follow, from Cézanne and Van Gogh through Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism.
The building on West 53rd Street has grown many times, most recently in 2019, when a major expansion opened new galleries and abandoned the old strict chronology. The collection is now hung in loose chronological order from the top down: the fifth floor covers the 1880s to the 1940s, the fourth floor the 1940s to the 1970s, and the second floor the 1970s to today. Painting, sculpture, photography, film, design and architecture are mixed together, and the displays change often.
Start on the fifth floor if you want the famous paintings, and give yourself half a day. The sculpture garden, designed by Philip Johnson, is the best place to rest between floors.
Before You Go
- Take the elevator or escalator straight up to the fifth floor and work your way down; the most famous paintings are at the top.
- The galleries are rehung frequently, so check the online collection or the museum app for the current location of a specific work.
- Weekday mornings right after opening are quietest; Friday evenings and weekends are very busy around The Starry Night.
- Photography without flash is allowed in the collection galleries; tripods and selfie sticks are not.
- The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden is free to enter and a good place to pause.
- Coats and large bags must be checked; there is a free coat check on the ground floor.
Collection Areas
Highlights
12 works. Each work has a full written and audio guide.
