The image of New York has always been one of America’s greatest exports. From Frank Sinatra to Sarah Jessica Parker, the city that never sleeps has been the center of the arts and entertainment industry for most of the 20th century. At the forefront of this cultural scene is the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), founded as New York’s first gallery dedicated exclusively to modern art in 1929.
Located in Midtown Manhattan, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller was an early patron of MOMA, and her influential position as part of the Rockefeller family helped cement her exclusive status. Opening with just eight paintings and one drawing, MOMA’s first director, Alfred H. Barr Jr, was quick to see its potential as a sphere for exhibiting new forms of modern art, stating, “This museum is a torpedo moving through time , its head the ever-advancing present, its tail the ever-receding past of 50 to 100 years ago.”
What made MOMA so unique for much of the last century was its constant change of location: between 1929 it changed locations three times in ten years, before its permanent home opened to the public in May 1939. Between 2002 and 2004, the MOMA was temporarily closed due to its building being redesigned by the famous Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi. While Taniguchi’s design was initially controversial, it has since been lauded as one of the city’s most exemplary features of contemporary architecture, making the museum itself, as well as its collection, a work of modern art. for the view.
The MOMA collection houses some of the most celebrated pieces in the art world, such as Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’, Salvador Dalí’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’ and Frida Kahlo’s ‘Self-Portrait with Short Hair’. It’s also home to the works of a host of celebrated modern American artists, including Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, and Andy Warhol. Although his paintings stand out in the history of modern art, his collection of fine art photography is also one of the most important in the world, with works by Cindy Sherman and Andreas Gursky.
MOMA’s pivotal position on any tour of New York makes it a clear stop on any modern art aficionado’s itinerary, and its exceptionally accessible nature means even novices will be captivated by the artistic delights it has to offer. A stone’s throw from the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York means luxury accommodations are right on your doorstep. The hotel itself will please any aficionado of modern art and architecture: its first house on Fifth Avenue, on the site of what is now the Empire State Building, was designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh, also responsible for the Plaza Hotel in New York and The Dakota apartment. building. Its current location dates to 1931, an Art Deco landmark designed by Shultz and Weaver. The hotel is ideally located for fans of modern art, located near the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as MOMA.