The Museum of Modern Art, known everywhere as MoMA, holds one of the world's great collections of modern and contemporary art, on West 53rd Street in Midtown Manhattan. Van Gogh's The Starry Night, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Monet's water lilies, Warhol's soup cans and Dalí's melting clocks are all here, along with design, photography, film and architecture. If you only have time for one art museum in New York besides the Met, the Museum of Modern Art is the usual choice.
Why visit the Museum of Modern Art
MoMA was founded in 1929 and has been on its current site since 1939, expanding several times since. The most recent major renovation, completed in 2019, added gallery space and rearranged the collection so that it is shown in rotating, roughly chronological displays rather than fixed departments. Paintings hang near furniture, posters, films and photographs from the same period, which gives a fuller picture of each moment in modern art.
Because the collection galleries rotate, a few works may be off view at any given time. If there is one painting you particularly want to see, check the online collection before you go.
Getting to the Museum of Modern Art by subway
The closest station is 5 Av/53 St on the E and M lines, about a block east of the museum. Come up onto 53rd Street and walk west toward Sixth Avenue; the main entrance is on the north side of the street.
Other stations within an easy walk:
- 57 St on the F, at Sixth Avenue, a few blocks north.
- 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Ctr on the B, D, F and M, a short walk south through Rockefeller Center.
- 57 St-7 Av on the N, Q, R and W, near Carnegie Hall.
Museum of Modern Art tickets and entry
Adults pay for admission, and tickets are sold for timed entry on the official MoMA website, moma.org. Booking online is the easiest way in and helps on busy days. Children usually enter free, and there are reduced rates for groups such as students and seniors. MoMA has also offered free or discounted entry programmes for some local residents and at certain times; these change, so check the official site rather than relying on older guides. Admission generally includes film screenings on the same day, subject to availability.
Bags above a certain size must be checked, so travel light.
Highlights of the collection
The painting galleries
The fifth floor is where most people head first, for the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Look for Van Gogh's The Starry Night, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Matisse's Dance (I), Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy and Dalí's The Persistence of Memory, which is much smaller than most visitors expect.
Monet's water lilies
MoMA's large late Water Lilies canvas is a place to sit for a while and let the scale do its work.
Postwar and contemporary art
The fourth floor covers the decades after the war: Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans and much more. Contemporary work fills the second floor.
The Sculpture Garden
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, between the museum's buildings, is a calm courtyard with works by Rodin, Picasso and others. It is a good break between floors.
Best time to visit MoMA
Arrive at opening on a weekday for the most space in front of the famous paintings. A common tactic is to go straight to the fifth floor before the crowds build, then work downwards. Weekends and school holidays are busiest, and rainy days push more people indoors.
Allow two to three hours for a good first visit. The museum is large, and you will enjoy it more if you pick a few floors rather than trying to see everything.
Food and the design store
There are cafés inside for a coffee or lunch break, and a full restaurant on the ground floor. The MoMA Design Store across the street sells well-designed objects and books, and you do not need a ticket to shop there.
Nearby on the same subway stop
- St. Patrick's Cathedral: on Fifth Avenue at 50th Street, free to enter.
- Rockefeller Center and Top of the Rock: a few minutes south.
- Fifth Avenue: flagship shops north toward Central Park.
- Carnegie Hall: a short walk north-west on 57th Street.
To see what else is good around this station, open the Museum of Modern Art on Around the Metro, or browse every stop on the New York subway map.