MoMA
The permanent home of Van Gogh's Starry Night and modern art's defining collection.
The Museum of Modern Art — MoMA — is one of the most influential art museums in the world, and the place where the story of modern and contemporary art is most compellingly told. Founded in 1929 by a group of visionaries including Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, it pioneered the idea that painting, sculpture, photography, film, design, and architecture all belong under one roof. Today its collection spans over 200,000 works, from the dawn of Impressionism through to art being made right now, housed in a striking Midtown building that was most recently overhauled by architect Diller Scofidio + Renfro in 2019.
A visit here means moving through galleries that feel genuinely electric. You'll encounter Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon — both as overwhelming in person as you'd hope — alongside Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair, Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, and Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans. The design and architecture galleries are often underrated: Charles Eames chairs, a Bell helicopter, a classic Porsche 911. The film program downstairs screens rare and classic cinema daily and is a serious institution in its own right. There's also a peaceful sculpture garden — the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden — that offers a rare moment of calm in Midtown.
Fridays until 8:30pm offer a slightly less crowded window to visit, and the museum tends to thin out after 4pm on weekdays. Timed-entry tickets are strongly recommended — buying on the door is possible but lines can be brutal, especially on weekends. Members get free unlimited entry, which pays for itself in two visits. If the collection floors you and you need a break, the museum's café and restaurant (The Modern, run by Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group) are both genuinely good rather than museum-cafeteria afterthoughts.
