by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on July 14, 2026 / Updated on July 16, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +447429011000
The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan, New York - panoramio.jpg by Николай Максимович; CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped for TheHistoryOfArt.org. · Image source
Current and upcoming exhibitions
These exhibitions are placed high on the page because they are the clearest reason to plan a visit around this museum now.
About The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art in New York, USA, is a useful starting point for moMA as the institution that shaped the public story of modern art. The 6 attached exhibitions help the page work both as a collection guide and as a practical route into what is on now.
For a first visit, build the route around Modern painting, sculpture, photography, design, film and works on paper. Artists especially worth slowing down for include Marcel Duchamp, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Constantin Brancusi and Piet Mondrian. Current and upcoming exhibitions can then help decide what deserves priority on the day.
Collection highlights to prioritise
These works are not a complete top-ten list. They are strong anchors for a first visit: objects that help explain the museum’s identity, support deeper interpretation and connect naturally to artists or artworks elsewhere on the site.
- The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, 1889. MoMA's highest-recognition painting and a key internal link into the Van Gogh cluster
- Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, 1907. Essential modern painting and Cubism anchor, but image use needs caution
- The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí, 1931. High-search Surrealism highlight and strong reader route
- Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp, 1951. Readymade anchor for the Duchamp exhibition and MoMA's expanded definition of art
- Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian, 1942-1943. Direct bridge to Mondrian Boogie Woogie and New York modernism
- Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol, 1962. Pop Art visitor highlight and collection-canon marker
Use these highlights as a route, not a checklist. The most rewarding visit will usually come from slowing down in front of fewer works and noticing how chronology, patronage, material, national school and display sequence change the way each object reads.
Plan around current exhibitions
Current and upcoming exhibitions are one of the clearest reasons to visit or revisit the museum now. A visitor may arrive here from the museum name, from an artist search, or from the exhibitions table; either way, the page should make the live programme easy to understand before sending readers to official venue details.
Sources and further reading
Use these official museum pages, object records and exhibition sources to check details and keep exploring.
- The Collection
Core collection source - Artists
Artist index source - Art terms
Terminology and education source - Current and upcoming exhibitions
guide exhibition source - The Starry Night
Priority object record - Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
Priority object record - Bicycle Wheel
Priority object/exhibition bridge
How to use this guide
Before travelling, check The Museum of Modern Art directly for opening hours, temporary closures, access arrangements and ticketing. This page avoids precise pricing by design, because prices and discounts change more often than the art-historical content. The stable value is route planning: what to see, why it matters, and which related pages are worth opening next.
