Museum of Modern Art: The most comprehensive modern art gallery in the world
With a 110-foot atrium that towers over an indoor walkway extending from 53rd Street to a new entry way on 54th Street, New York’s Museum of Modern Art is easily one of the most spectacular modern art museums in the country.
Located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the MoMA, as it is commonly called in New York, has been distinctly important in developing and collecting true modernist art and has often been singled out as the most influential museum of modern art in the world.
Founded by the Rockefeller family and opened on Nov. 7, 1929, just days after the famous Wall Street Crash of 1929, the museum's collection gives visitors an incomparable examination of modern and contemporary art, including works of architecture and design, drawings, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated books and artist's books, film, and electronic media. Its first successful loan exhibition was in November 1929, displaying paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, and Seurat.
MoMA's library and archives contain more than 300,000 books, artist books and periodicals, in addition to individual files on more than 70,000 artists. MOMA’s archives contain primary source data related to the history of modern and contemporary art. It also houses an award-winning fine dining restaurant, The Modern, operated by Alsace-born chef Gabriel Kreuther.
MoMA's holdings include more than 150,000 individual pieces in addition to approximately 22,000 films and million film stills. The collection houses such important and familiar works as The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau; The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh; and Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, among a multitude of others. It also holds works by a wide range of influential American artists.
There is a constant stream of new exhibitions at the museum. From late November through April, a retrospective devoted to filmmaker Tim Burton illuminates the uniquely skewed artistic vision of one of today’s most creative minds.
Avoid visiting the museum over the holidays, particularly if it’s your first time. Weekdays from Tuesdays through Thursdays are best for the most relaxing first-time tourist experience.
- by Jim Brown , New York Reporter for HelloMetro
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Jim Brown Jim Brown is a longtime freelance aviation, travel and destination writer and communications professional. A former reporter for Aviation Daily, Air Safety Week and World Airline News, Jim served for more than 15 years as a senior public relations executive for American Airlines, TWA and AirTran Airways.
