MoMA tickets: Museum of Modern Art in New York

What You Need to Know About MoMA New York

• The Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, is a New York museum dedicated entirely to modern art. The museum opened in November 1929 on 53rd Street, between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas, in the heart of Manhattan, in New York. The Museum of Modern Art’s mission is to bring together the finest works of contemporary art.
• MoMA ranks among New York’s most visited museums. The Museum of Modern Art welcomed nearly 2.8 million visitors in 2025. The museum is commonly known by the affectionate nickname MoMA.
• While MoMA still occupies its original location, the museum you visit today looks very different from its early days. Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi led the first major renovation. The work required the museum to close completely from 2004 to 2006.
• Another transformation took place in 2019, with an expansion that also meant a temporary closure. Today’s museum is twice the size of the original building.

What to See at the Museum of Modern Art

MoMA’s collection is wonderfully diverse: painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and even video. As the museum notes, MoMA “celebrates creativity, openness, tolerance, and generosity.” The museum’s manageable size means you can see everything in a single visit. Here are the major works not to miss:

• “The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh. This painting draws more visitors to MoMA than any other. You won’t escape the crowds and tourists wanting selfies with it.
• “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.
• “Dance I” by French painter Henri Matisse.
• “Bird in Space” by sculptor Constantin Brancusi.
• “The Persistence of Memory” by Spanish painter Salvador Dalí. This painting is also known as “The Soft Watches.”
• “The Large Bathers” by French painter Paul Cézanne.
• Another major work: Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans series, the famous soup cans painted in 1962. “This is the defining work of the artist’s career and a masterpiece of MoMA,” the museum explains. With the Campbell’s soups, Warhol pioneered his principle of reproducing and repeating everyday objects. This key pop art idea later appeared in his multiplied portraits of Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.

MoMA also houses works by Toulouse-Lautrec, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee, Jean Dubuffet, André Derain, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollock, and Georges Braque. The collection contains over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, and objects in total. An incredible collection! Plus regular, world-class temporary exhibitions.

Visiting the Museum of Modern Art

• Address: 11 West 53rd Street, New York. The museum sits between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue.
• Subway: 5 Av/53 S (E and M lines).
• Hours: MoMA is open daily from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm (until 8:30 pm on Saturday). The museum closes only on Thanksgiving and Christmas, December 25.
• Admission: $30 for adults, $20 for visitors 65 and older, $15 for students. Free for children under 16. Note that the museum no longer offers free Friday evening admission for non-New York residents. All visitors must now pay admission.
• Skip-the-line tickets: you can buy tickets in advance with skip-the-line access through MoMA’s ticket reservation system. Another benefit: you can pay in your own currency—euros, Swiss francs, or Canadian dollars—which saves you bank fees and exchange fees. MoMA tickets also include entry to MoMA PS1, MoMA’s branch in Queens. The PS1 ticket must be used the same day.
• Tip: MoMA admission is included in the New York Explorer Pass and the New York Pass.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reviews of the Museum of Modern Art New York

• Karine E. : “As an art enthusiast, I loved the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This museum brings together works by Lichtenstein, Picasso, Warhol, and Pollock. A must for art lovers.”
• Isabelle L. : “I love it.”
• Marc B. : “Excellent!”
• Melissa L.-G. : “I really enjoyed this museum.”
• Vincent Petit-Romero : “Interesting, but if you’re not an expert like me, three hours here might be more than enough. Still worth a visit if your schedule allows.”
• Carmen Z. : “I love this museum and the diversity of its collections.”
• Valentine B. : “I really enjoyed the outdoor ground floor and the impressionist galleries. I came specifically for those. I would have stayed longer, but it was -12°C (10°F) in August! Americans are crazy with their air conditioning!”
• Céline M. : “You can’t help but be moved by the greatest masterpieces of contemporary art.”
• Guillaume A. : “I visited it… Well, for me maybe 5% could be considered modern art. The rest… no comment.”
• Alex D. : “I’m not a fan of modern art to begin with. Apart from a van Gogh and a Picasso, I really didn’t enjoy it. But this museum was included in the CityPASS, so… If I could have gone to the 9/11 Memorial instead, I would have preferred that. This museum isn’t really for everyone—the works are quite particular.”
• Sandrine M. : “I went out of curiosity, but modern art really isn’t for everyone…”
• Adrien Dbvs : “Worth seeing, but if you’re not well-versed in art, you might get bored quickly.”
• Alice W. : “I’m not necessarily a fan of contemporary art, but the museum is worth a visit. Plus, there’s a lovely garden—a real oasis in the middle of Manhattan…”

Reviews of the Museum of Modern Art from our Destination New York Facebook group

MoMA in Photos

Map to the Museum of Modern Art