themuseumofmodernart

Art ages, just like we do! In an effort to restore artist Henri Matisse’s “The Swimming Pool,” MoMA’s Conservation team spent 2,000 hours to bring this artwork back to life: from removing strands of burlap one-by-one to cleaning the paper to rid it of build up.  🌊 After five years on view, see “The Swimming Pool” in its final months before this light-sensitive work is deinstalled for multiple years.  — [1] Henri Matisse. “The Swimming Pool” Nice-Cimiez, Hôtel Régina, late summer 1952. Mrs. Bernard F. Gimbel Fund. © 2024 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York [2 + 3] “The Swimming Pool, Matisse’s dining room, Hôtel Régina, Nice, 1952. © 2024 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photos: Lydia Delectorskaya / Archives Henri Matisse

Today and tomorrow! 45 years ago today, artist On Kawara painted “DEC. 17, 1979” on a canvas to mark the exact day. The next day, he did the same with “DEC. 18, 1979.” Each date was carefully hand-painted, reflecting a quiet ritual of recording time. Kawara began his "Today" series in 1966, creating 241 paintings in the first year alone. While the format of each canvas stayed consistent—each painting displaying a single date—the details varied. Background colors ranged from gray to red to blue, and the typefaces changed too. Each work took many hours to create because of the layering of paint and necessary drying periods. Through this meticulous process, Kawara captured how time connects and separates us, shaping both personal and shared experiences. 📅 See these paintings on view in gallery 413: One Thing After Another. — Artworks by On Kawara. 1979. Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund. © 2024 On Kawara [1] “DEC. 17, 1979” [2] “DEC. 18, 1979”

Need a last minute gift? Give a year of art, inspiration, and unforgettable experiences with a MoMA Membership — no shipping required. #MoMAMembers enjoy exclusive benefits, experiences, and perks including… 🎟️ Unlimited free admission 🖼️ Early access to exhibitions 🎉 Exclusive events, talks, and family programs 🛍️ Discounts from MoMA Design Store … and so much more! Link in bio to get gifting.

When books and magazines make their way onto a canvas! There’s no mistaking a Marlon Mullen painting. His vibrant works reimagine the world of art through bold color and lush surfaces. For nearly 40 years, Mullen has been based at the NIAD Art Center in Richmond, California, a progressive art studio for artists with developmental disabilities. Taking inspiration from the books and magazines of all kinds that fill shelves and rolling carts at @niadartcenter, Mullen creates mesmerizing canvases where letters and imagery are reordered into pure form. See a new exhibition featuring a decade of Mullen’s transformative works, on view now at MoMA. — Marlon Mullen. “Untitled.” 2017. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of AC Hudgins. © 2024 Marlon Mullen

Find great gifts for even the toughest on your list at @momadesignstore ! Discover everything from toys, tech, decor, and accessories at our stores on 53rd Street in Midtown and on Spring Street in Soho. Not in New York City? Place an order online at store.moma.org by December 17 with standard shipping for it to arrive by December 24!

How did “The Starry Night” get to MoMA? Lillie P. Bliss, one of the three female founders of The Museum of Modern Art, was a determined art collector. When she passed away just two years after MoMA opened, she gave a bulk of her art to this new museum with a vision to support artists in a future no one could yet imagine. ⭐ See “The Starry Night” on view now.  📖 Learn more about the untold story of the woman who shaped modern art in America in a new exhibition “Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern.” — All photos from The Museum of Modern Art, New York [1] Vincent van Gogh. “The Starry Night.” Saint Rémy, June 1889. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange) [2] The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West Fifty-Third Street, 1939. Photograph by Eliot Elisofon [3] Visitors at The Museum of Modern Art, c. 1939–40 [4] Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, one of the three founders of The Museum of Modern Art, 1922. Rockefeller Archive Center [5] Mary Quinn Sullivan, one of the three founders of The Museum of Modern Art, n.d. [6] Lillie P. Bliss. c. 1924. [7] Lillie P. Bliss. c. 1904. [8] Paul Cézanne. “Still Life with Apples.” 1895-98. Lillie P. Bliss Collection [9 + 15] Installation view of “Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern,” on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York from November 17, 2024, through March 29, 2025. [10] The music room in Bliss’s apartment, 1001 Park Avenue, c. 1929–1931. [11] Installation view of the exhibition “The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, 1934.” May 14, 1934–September 12, 1934. [12] Installation view of the exhibition “Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Lizzie P. Bliss.” May 17, 1931–October 6, 1931. Photo: Peter A. Juley [13] “Alfred H. Barr, Jr.” c. 1930. [14] Announcement of the acquisition of “The Starry Night” (1889) by Vincent van Gogh. 1941. The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition Records, 149.2. [16] Paul Cézanne. “The Bather.” c. 1885. Lillie P. Bliss Collection [17] Georges-Pierre Seurat. “Port-en-Bessin, Entrance to the Harbor.” 1888. Lillie P. Bliss Collection [18] Paul Cézanne. “Still Life with Ginger Jar, Sugar Bowl, and Oranges.” 1902-06. Lillie P. Bliss Collection

Last chance to catch Oscar-worthy films in theaters! See #MoMAContenders through January 8. Each year, the MoMA Department of Film combs through major studio releases and the top film festivals in the world, selecting influential, innovative films made in the past 12 months that we believe will stand the test of time. Check out these top picks screening at MoMA, link in bio for the full lineup: 🌍 Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World: December 21 🏳️‍🌈 Queer: December 29 🧙‍♀️ Wicked: January 1 🎾 Challengers: January 2, Followed by a conversation with Justin Kuritzkes 🧪 The Substance: January 6 — [1] “Wicked.” 2024. USA. Directed by Jon M. Chu. Courtesy Universal Studios [2] “Challengers.” 2024. USA. Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Courtesy MGM/Amazon [3] “Queer.” 2024. Italy/USA. Directed by Luca Guadagnino. Courtesy A24 [4] “The Substance.” 2024. USA/UK. Directed by Coralie Fargeat. Courtesy MUBI [5] “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World.” 2024. Romania. Written and directed by Radu Jude. Courtesy MUBI

Sending you good luck this Friday the 13th 🍀 May your black cats be friendly, your ladders avoidable, and your broken mirrors lead to nothing but good fortune! — 🃏 Allen Ruppersberg. “Good Luck from Preview.” 1988. John B. Turner Fund. © 2024 Allen Ruppersberg

What if a teardrop could speak?  Artist Otobong Nkanga transforms the act of crying into sculptures that explore emotions contained in tears. 🌿 Step into Nkanga’s powerful installation, “Cadence,” now on view at MoMA. 🎧 Explore this installation at the Museum or at home. Download the free @bloombergconnects app to your mobile device and select MoMA’s guide to hear about the themes and materials that have shaped Otobong Nkanga’s art.

🎁 Give the gift of inspiration this season with these 5 essential MoMA publications 📚 🌊 Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs ✍️ Inventing the Modern: Untold Stories of the Women Who Shaped The Museum of Modern Art 🎨 MoMA Now: Highlights from The Museum of Modern Art  🎵 Grace Wales Bonner: Dream in the Rhythm 🖌️ Art Making with MoMA 🛍️ Shop these and more at @momadesignstore

“I can hear the coquís all around me, the small frogs singing coquí, coquí, coquí, coquí. It is not a coincidence that I, an Afro-Indigenous woman, am here, taking part in these native practices. Native Taino rituals, words, and material history have survived within me.” — Dr. Margarita Lila Rosa Listen to the sounds of Borikén, also known as Puerto Rico, and discover how Afro-Indigenous symbols have carried stories of survival and resilience for centuries in a new article on #MoMAMagazine Scholar and curator Dr. Margarita Lila Rosa explores the themes of secrecy and preservation in Afro-Indigenous art that confront colonial legacies while honoring enduring creative traditions. Link in bio to explore. — [1] Abdias Nascimento. “Facade of a Temple.” 1972. Gift of Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida, and Sandra and Tony Tamer [2] Hector Hyppolite. “The Congo Queen. By 1946. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss [3] Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie. “Return of the Native.” 1990. Photography Purchase Fund. © 2024 Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie

What do you notice first in this dreamlike village scene? Artist Marc Chagall painted “I and the Village” one year after moving from Russia to Paris. This Cubist take on the artist’s unique style of abstraction has vivid colors and folk imagery that evoke memories of Chagall’s childhood in a Hasidic Jewish community in what is now Belarus.  Here’s what you can find:  🐐 The faces of a goat and a man meet in the center. The title of the work, “I and the Village,” is a pun on the eyes of these figures. The contours of their noses, cheeks, and chins form a set of interlocking diagonals, concentric circles, planes of color, and fragmented forms. 🐄 A woman milks a cow on the left. 👀 In the center, a floating face appears in a church entrance… 🏠 … and in a row of houses there are two that are upside down. See the painting on view now in our fifth-floor galleries.  — Marc Chagall. “I and the Village.” 1911. Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. © 2024 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris