The private after-hours tour at MoMA

Why it is on the list

MoMA has collected the art of its own time since 1929; the collection now runs from the late 19th century to the present, some 200,000 works, among them Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Van Gogh's The Starry Night.¹ Outside public hours the museum's own guides, professional art historians, take a private party through it; the hour can be built around particular galleries, a medium, the building or a current exhibition, in several languages.² No outside guide may lead a group inside.²

Choose the evening hour on a day other than Friday: on Fridays the museum stays open to the public until 8:30 pm.³ On Saturday and Sunday mornings select galleries open from 9:30 to 10:30 am to members and their guests, the same hour as the before-hours tour.³ For Klimt, Schiele and Vienna 1900 in a house on Fifth Avenue, the Neue Galerie's docent tour is the better hour; its galleries reopen on 12 November 2026.⁴

How to get it

Write to MoMA Groups and Tours at groupsandtours@moma.org or call +1 212 708 9685, or use the request form on the tours page, and ask for a private after-hours tour with a museum guide.² Book at least two weeks ahead; shorter notice carries rush fees.² After hours the rate is $125 an adult, with a minimum of $1,400; for visits from 1 January 2027 it is $160 an adult and at least $1,600.² Before hours it is $100 an adult, with a minimum of $1,100.² Fees include admission, and a tour longer than an hour costs more.²

Discretion

Every bag is inspected at the door, and anything larger than 11 by 17 by 5 inches, luggage, tripods, selfie sticks and professional video equipment stay out.⁵ The galleries are under video monitoring, and the museum may photograph or film visitors and use the pictures.⁵