MoMA Returning to Manhattan, Gouging Visitors

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is one of the cultural highlights of New York, at least for people who don’t think art requires that a tree looks like a tree. After two years in exile in the borough of Queens, MoMA is returning to a renovated, reconstructed Manhattan address. And to pay for the fix up, the privately-run museum is pricing admission at $20 a head. That makes it a problem for many.

The museums owned by the City of New York are free. There is a “suggested donation” that is solicited at the entrance, and no small social sanction to get one to pay up. However, the fact remains that no one is turned away for financial reasons. The Queens Museum of Art asks for $5, and the Brooklyn Museum requests adults patrons donate $6. Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City in Queens is free. As is the New York Public Library and its Gutenberg Bible.

Elsewhere, the Smithsonian’s many museums are free. London’s Tate Gallery follows the recommended donation route – asking £8.50 per adult (US$12-ish, what MoMA used to charge). The Louvre is US$10 or thereabouts. St. Petersburg’s Hermitage is US$10.

In MoMA’s defense, it does provide free admission from 4pm to 8pm Fridays for all, and students get in free. If one were really in need of a culture fix, that isn’t bad. Although, the Louvre is free the first Sunday of the month, while the Tate is free to those over 60 or under 18 all the time. In other words, MoMA isn’t doing anything other great museums don’t do. It’s just going to charge 67% more than it used to do.

Ultimately, there is no point in having a museum that can’t pay its bills. But at the same time, art belongs to all – it is the common cultural heritage of the human race. The balance needs to be struck in favor of getting people in the door. MoMA had 400,000 visitors last year, while it was in the borough of Archie Bunker, the Mets and the airports. Many felt it was out of the way, but the Picasso-Matisse exhibition was a sell-out. Perhaps MoMA’s management should sit down with an economist who can explain that raising prices doesn’t automatically enhance revenue.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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