MoMA Under New Director Christophe Cherix: $30 Admission, Free Friday Nights, and a Duchamp Show
MoMA is open every day now. No more Tuesday closures. That is one of the first changes under Christophe Cherix, who became The David Rockefeller Director in 2025, succeeding Glenn D. Lowry after 30 years. The museum is also charging $30 for adults, up from $25, with seniors at $22 and students at $17. Children under 16 are still free. And the UNIQLO Friday Nights program offers free admission for New York State residents from 5:30 to 8:30 PM every Friday, with tickets reservable in advance.
The museum holds roughly 200,000 works of modern and contemporary art across six curatorial departments: Architecture and Design, Drawings and Prints, Film, Media and Performance, Painting and Sculpture, and Photography. It welcomes about 3 million visitors annually at its 53rd Street location in Midtown Manhattan, plus additional visitors at MoMA PS1 in Queens, which is free for all.
Current Exhibitions (Summer 2026)
MoMA's exhibition program under Cherix is already making statements. Here is what is on view:
- Marcel Duchamp (through August 22, 2026): A major retrospective examining Duchamp's influence on 20th-century art, from the readymades to the Large Glass.
- Frida and Diego: The Last Dream (through September 12, 2026): A focused look at the final works of Kahlo and Rivera, drawing on MoMA's holdings and loans from Mexican institutions.
- Pierre Huyghe: UUmwelt (through November 29, 2026): An immersive installation exploring consciousness and environmental systems.
- Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa (through January 2, 2027): A groundbreaking survey of post-independence African architecture.
- American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (through August 9, 2026): A reexamination of the founding collection that helped establish MoMA's identity.
- Odili Donald Odita: Songs from Life (through February 21, 2027): A major wall painting commission by the Nigerian-American abstract painter.
The Duchamp show is the headline. If you care about 20th-century art, this is the exhibition to see in New York in 2026. It connects the readymades to Conceptual art, Pop, and contemporary practice in a way that only MoMA's collection depth allows.
The Iconic Works: Still Worth the Hype
Yes, you have seen them on postcards and tote bags. They are still worth seeing in person.
Van Gogh's The Starry Night (1889) hangs in a fifth-floor gallery surrounded by other Post-Impressionist works. The painting is smaller than most people expect. The impasto is thicker than any reproduction can convey. Go early in the morning and you might get 30 seconds alone with it before the crowd arrives.
Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) is in the same gallery area. The fractured forms and distorted faces still shock 119 years after they were painted. This is the painting that art historians point to as the birth of modern art. Seeing it next to the Cézannes and Matisses that preceded it makes the rupture visible.
Dalí's The Persistence of Memory is smaller than a sheet of paper. The melting clocks are iconic, but the painting's scale makes it intimate rather than grand.
Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans are displayed as a full grid, all 32 canvases in a row. The seriality is the point. You cannot understand the work from a single canvas reproduction.
Monet's Water Lilies panels span an entire gallery. The triptych is monumental, and the gallery was designed specifically for it. Sit on the bench and let the painting surround you.
Beyond Painting: Photography, Film, and Design
MoMA's decision to collect photography, film, and design with the same seriousness as painting is what separates it from every other modern art museum. The photography collection holds over 25,000 works. The film archive includes over 30,000 films and 1.5 million film stills. The Architecture and Design department was the first of its kind in any museum worldwide.
If you only visit the painting galleries, you are seeing half of MoMA. The design galleries on the third floor include everything from a Bell 47D1 helicopter to an Atari 2600 to a kitchen by Charlotte Perriand. The photography galleries rotate frequently, showing different works from the collection every few months. And the film program screens daily, with everything from restored classics to contemporary premieres.
Admission Strategy: How to Pay Less
$30 is the sticker price. Here is how to reduce it:
- UNIQLO Friday Nights: Free for New York State residents every Friday from 5:30 to 8:30 PM. Tickets must be reserved in advance and are subject to availability. Proof of residency required. This is the best deal at MoMA.
- Buy online: Save $2 per ticket by purchasing in advance at moma.org. A limited number of tickets are available on-site, but online purchase guarantees entry.
- MoMA PS1 is free: The Queens affiliate is always free, made possible by Sonya Yu. If you want contemporary art without the $30 ticket, go to PS1 instead.
- Membership: At roughly $130 for an individual membership, if you plan to visit more than four times, it pays for itself. Members skip all lines.
- Children under 16 are always free. This makes MoMA more affordable for families than the Metropolitan Museum, which charges for all visitors.
How It Compares
Against the Metropolitan Museum, MoMA is narrower in scope but deeper in modern and contemporary art. The Met covers 5,000 years of global art. MoMA covers roughly 130 years of modern and contemporary art. If you want Rembrandt and ancient Egypt, go to the Met. If you want Picasso and Warhol, go to MoMA. Both charge $30.
Against the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MoMA has a stronger modern collection but a weaker pre-modern collection. The MFA has better Japanese art and American colonial painting. MoMA has better 20th-century art, period.
Against the Tate Modern in London, MoMA has a deeper historical collection (Tate Modern's collection starts later), but Tate Modern is free. That $30 versus free comparison stings, especially when both museums have comparable individual masterpieces.
Against the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, MoMA is larger and more comprehensive in modern art, but the Thyssen covers a broader chronological range in a single visit.
Insider Tips for Visiting
- Go on a weekday morning at 10:30 AM. MoMA is open every day now. Weekday mornings are the quietest time. The Starry Night gallery is manageable before 11:30 AM.
- Friday nights are free for NY residents but crowded. The UNIQLO Friday Nights program draws large crowds. If you qualify, go, but expect a lively atmosphere rather than quiet contemplation.
- Start on the fifth floor. The iconic works from the 1880s through 1940s are on five. Work your way down through contemporary art on two and one.
- Budget three hours minimum. The collection is large. If you only have two hours, focus on floors five and four.
- Do not skip the design galleries on three. Most visitors walk straight through to the painting galleries. The design collection is what makes MoMA unique among modern art museums.
- The Sculpture Garden is free. You can enter the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden without a museum ticket, though you need to check in at the desk. Good spot for a break.
- The Modern is the best museum restaurant in New York. It is a Michelin-starred restaurant with views of the sculpture garden. Expensive, but genuinely excellent. Terrace 5 and Café 2 are more casual options.
- MoMA PS1 is worth the trip to Queens. Take the 7 train to Court Square. PS1 is a 10-minute walk. It is free, it is contemporary, and it is where the New York art world actually goes.
- Check the film schedule. Your admission ticket includes same-day film screenings. You need a separate free film ticket from the ticketing desk, but the screenings are included in your $30.
Final Verdict: Who Is This Actually For?
MoMA is for anyone who wants to understand 20th-century art. The collection is the canon. Van Gogh, Picasso, Dalí, Warhol, Monet, Matisse, Pollock, Rothko: they are all here, in depth, in the building where modern art was first given a museum.
It is not for someone on a tight budget who only has time for one museum in New York. At $30, it is expensive. If you are a New York State resident, the Friday night free entry makes it accessible. If you are not, consider MoMA PS1 (free) or the Frick Collection ($22) as alternatives.
The new director Christophe Cherix is still early in his tenure, but the exhibition program is already signaling a commitment to both the canonical works (Duchamp) and the underexplored (Architects of Liberation, Odili Donald Odita). The decision to open every day is a visitor-friendly change that costs the museum money but signals priorities.
MoMA remains the museum that defined modern art. The $30 ticket stings, but the collection delivers. Just do not spend all your time on the fifth floor with the icons. The design galleries, the photography rotations, and the film program are what make MoMA more than a greatest-hits collection.
Plan your visit at moma.org. For more on modern and contemporary art, explore our art schools directory or browse courses on modern art history.
