Vibe Check: Are these NYC modern art museums worth it?

The Guggenheim. The MOMA. The Whitney.

We’ve all heard of them. Or at the very least two out of three. Modern art can be tricky. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and depending on current exhibitions, art featured in these spaces can make or break your experience. Personally, I try to view art from an open mind. I not only take the final product into mind, but also the effort made. Sometimes I wonder how much all the materials cost…. I assume an artist may large budget to mess around with and I wonder where this money came from in the first place. A grant? Nepo assistance? An internet search may help but I’m not going down that rabbit hole.

Anyway. Back to the topic. What’s Fab? What’s Decent? And What’s worth skipping?

FAB: The Whitney. Why? For modern art, it offers versatile forms, with true transitions from one room to another. I still managed to get a comfy feeling among the crowds. The rooftop has a bar with a decent cocktail menu and open space for you to hang outside and take in the sunset. Ticket cost is $30 but the museum occasionally offers free nights to the public with reservation, making it totally worthwhile.

DECENT: The MOMA. This is a great museum. It’s vast, with works covering a large amount of artists. It’s almost too much. You can’t even take it all in in one visit. Some artists I don’t think can really be considered modern anymore but I guess that’s out of my pay grade. The Moma can feel upscale so just be prepared for that. Tickets are $30. The. museum also offers free Fridays for New Yorkers with ID, but if you’re not a New Yorker, you’re out of luck.

SKIP: The Guggenheim. Or as I’d like to call it, the Guggz. The building is a site to see and worth visiting at least once. But to be honest, I like seeing it from the outside more than the inside. The structure inside makes the museum space almost nonexistent outside of the spiraled floors hugging the side of the building. If you want to check this place off the list anyway, make sure to check the site for updates. When I went, two areas were closed for prep for an upcoming exhibit. This left me with viewing the main exhibit, which was a disappointing placement of random items on shelves, like vases, fake trees, and clumps of discarded art material. I can hear my mom saying “We have art at home, I’m not going to buy that for you”. The only thing worth seeing was the permanent collection, which sadly was a smaller space. I probably spent 45 minutes here. $30 tickets.