Museum of Modern Art

The museum's physical home has undergone significant transformations. The 1939 building, designed by Philip Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone, was expanded in the 1950s and 1960s by Philip Johnson, who also designed the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. A major 1984 renovation by Cesar Pelli doubled the gallery space. The most ambitious project occurred in 2004, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi, which nearly doubled the exhibition space and added the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building. Further expansion and a complete rehang of the collection were completed in 2019 by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, increasing public space by 25%.

MoMA's collection comprises approximately 200,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, films, and design objects. The holdings are particularly renowned for their extensive representation of Cubist, Surrealist, and Abstract Expressionist movements. A centerpiece of the collection is Pablo Picasso's pivotal 1907 painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. The museum also holds one of the world's most important photography collections, with over 25,000 works, and a vast film archive containing roughly 22,000 films and 4 million film stills.

The museum is organized into six curatorial departments: Architecture and Design, Drawings and Prints, Film, Media and Performance, Painting and Sculpture, and Photography. The Department of Architecture and Design, founded in 1932, was one of the first in the United States to include industrial design and architecture in a museum collection. The Department of Photography was also established early in the museum's history, recognizing photography as a major art form. The Film Department, founded in 1935, was the first museum film archive in the world, reflecting Barr's vision of introducing the 'only great art form peculiar to the 20th century' to the public.

MoMA has played a pivotal role in defining and promoting modern art globally. It hosted landmark exhibitions such as 'Cubism and Abstract Art' in 1936, which significantly influenced the understanding of modernism. The museum's innovative approach to collecting, which included photography, film, and design alongside traditional fine arts, set a precedent for other institutions. Its educational programs and active publishing history, with over 2,500 editions in 35 languages, have further cemented its status as a leading educational institution. The museum's affiliation with MoMA PS1 in Long Island City since 2000 has expanded its reach into contemporary art practices.