MuseumClosed Thanksgiving, December 25

Museum of Modern Art

#8of 10 places to visit in New York CityNew York City, New York State, United States

Also known as MoMA

Quick answer

Opening hours: 10:30–17:30. Entry: $30. Allow 2.5 hrs. Best time: Weekday mornings at 10:30 opening.

Updated 18 September 2026 · Compiled by Traveliac, AI-assisted · 4 min read

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Photo: hibino / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Opening hours: 10:30–17:30
Entry fee: $30; Ticket from
Time needed: 2.5 hrs
Best time of day: Weekday mornings at 10:30 opening
Best months: Apr – May, Sep – Oct
Address: 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019

About Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art holds one of the world's most concentrated collections of late-19th to 21st-century art across six floors on West 53rd Street, including works such as Vincent van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' and Pablo Picasso's 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.' Founded in 1929 by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and two co-trustees, MoMA opened in a rented office space with a loan exhibition just days after the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression, and moved into its current West 53rd Street site in 1939. The building underwent a major $450 million expansion designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, completed in 2019, which added roughly 4,600 square metres of gallery space and reorganized the permanent collection by chronology mixed with medium rather than by strict art-historical movement.

Best time of day: Weekday mornings at 10:30 opening. The fifth-floor galleries holding the museum's best-known early-modern works draw the heaviest crowds by early afternoon on any given day.

Museum of Modern Art timings

Museum of Modern Art opens at 10:30 and closes at 17:30. The weekend is no different: Saturday and Sunday follow the same times.

Opening hours: 10:30–17:30; Mon–Sun 10:30–17:30
Closed on: Thanksgiving, December 25

Mon–Sun	10:30–17:30

Good to know: Closed Thanksgiving Day and December 25 each year.

Opening hours compiled from moma.org and public records, last updated 18 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Museum of Modern Art ticket price

Entry fees for Museum of Modern Art
Ticket	Price
Standard ticket	$30
Concession (student / senior)	$22
Children	Free

Adults $30.00, seniors 65+ $22.00, students with valid ID $17.00, visitors under 16 free at all times, as of 2026. Free admission Friday evenings 17:30-20:30 is reserved for New York State residents with proof of ID and must be booked online in advance. Verify current pricing at moma.org before visiting.

Prices compiled from moma.org and public records, last updated 18 September 2026. They change without notice — confirm before you travel. How we write these guides

Best time to visit Museum of Modern Art

Quiet
Moderate
Busy
Very busy

10:30 - 12:00
Opening WindowBest time to go
Quietest period of the day; the fifth-floor collection galleries, including 'The Starry Night,' are viewable without a dense standing crowd.
Quiet
12:00 - 16:00
Midday Peak
Heaviest crowds of the day, concentrated on the fifth floor around the best-known Post-Impressionist and Cubist works.
Very busy
16:00 - 17:30
Late Afternoon
Crowds ease as day visitors depart; a reasonable window for the less-visited film and design galleries on other floors.
Moderate
17:30 - 20:30 (Fridays)
Friday Evening
Free admission for NY State residents draws a local evening crowd; busy but with a different, less tourist-heavy energy than daytime hours.
Busy

History of Museum of Modern Art

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie P. Bliss, and Mary Quinn Sullivan founded MoMA in 1929 specifically to champion modern art at a time when New York's major institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum, largely dismissed it; the museum's first director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., shaped its early identity around a 'torpedo' model tracing modern art's development from Post-Impressionism through Cubism to abstraction, a framework that influenced how museums worldwide organized modern-art collections for decades.

The museum moved through several temporary locations before architects Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone completed the original International Style building at 11 West 53rd Street in 1939. Major expansions followed in 1984 (César Pelli) and 2004 (Yoshio Taniguchi), each roughly doubling gallery space, before the most recent 2019 Diller Scofidio + Renfro renovation added the museum's current ground-floor free-to-enter lobby galleries and reorganized the permanent collection display, which now rotates more frequently than in past decades.

Rules & etiquette at Museum of Modern Art

Timed-entry tickets are strongly recommended and often necessary for popular weekend slots; walk-up admission is possible but can mean a wait at the door during peak hours. Photography without flash is permitted throughout the permanent collection galleries, though some temporary special exhibitions restrict photography entirely - signage at each gallery entrance specifies the rule for that show.

Large bags, backpacks, and umbrellas must go through security screening and are typically required to be checked at the free coat check near the lobby; laptops and cameras can usually be carried in. The museum can be genuinely crowded around its most famous works - 'The Starry Night' in particular draws a standing crowd several people deep most of the day, so patience or an early visit is the practical way to see it without jostling.

Tips for visiting Museum of Modern Art

1
Free Friday evening tickets (17:30-20:30) for New York State residents must be reserved online in advance and release on a rolling basis - check moma.org's discounts page for the current release schedule rather than assuming walk-up access. The fifth floor holds the core early-modern collection (Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso) and is consistently the most crowded; visiting it first thing at 10:30 opening, before working down through the building, avoids the worst of the midday crush.
2
The ground-floor lobby galleries, added in the 2019 renovation, are free to enter without a museum ticket and rotate site-specific commissions - worth a look even for visitors not planning a full paid visit. The sculpture garden, when open seasonally, offers a quieter break between gallery floors and is included with general admission. A combined RockMoMA ticket with Top of the Rock, an eight-minute walk away, costs less than booking both separately.

How to reach Museum of Modern Art

11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019Directions in Google Maps

From 5th Avenue-53rd Street subway station
0.1 km · 2 min
$2.90 subway (OMNY/MetroCard)
From Rockefeller Center (47-50 Streets station)
0.6 km · 8 min walk
Free (walking distance)
From LaGuardia Airport (LGA)
12 km · 35-50 min combined
$2.90 total (single OMNY/MetroCard fare covers the transfer)

Nearest airport

From LaGuardia Airport (LGA)

approximately 12 km, 30-45 minutes by road depending on traffic.

Nearest station

From 5th Avenue-53rd Street (subway lines E, M)

one block away.

Museum of Modern Art FAQs

How much does MoMA cost?

$30.00 for adults, $22.00 for seniors 65+, $17.00 for students with ID, and free for visitors under 16, as of 2026. Free admission is also available Friday evenings 17:30-20:30 for New York State residents who book online in advance.

Is MoMA free on Fridays?

Only for New York State residents, and only during the 17:30-20:30 evening window with an advance online reservation. It is not free for out-of-state or international visitors.

Where is 'The Starry Night' displayed at MoMA?

On the fifth floor, in the museum's core early-modern collection galleries alongside other Post-Impressionist and Cubist works. It is consistently the most crowded single painting in the museum, so early opening-hour visits give the best viewing conditions.

How long does a MoMA visit take?

Around 2-2.5 hours for a focused visit covering the main collection floors; art enthusiasts often spend a half-day or more given the museum's six floors and rotating special exhibitions.

Compiled with AI assistance from official sources and public records, and published only after the checks in How we write these guides. Nobody from Traveliac has visited this place. Last updated 18 September 2026. How we rank and check places