New York City has some of the best museums in the world with one of the most popular being The Museum of Modern Art. The MoMA houses some of the world's most important and creative works of modern and contemporary art and is cited as one of the most influential museums of modern art. There are a total of six floors at the MoMA, and each floor is home to spectacular collections from the most significant artists in modern and contemporary art history.
It's safe to say that certain pieces in The Museum of Modern Art have intrigued art enthusiasts and tourists a lot more than others. Crowds gather to get a glimpse of Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night and Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory, works that have captivated thousands of visitors to the MoMA for years. Works from American artist Andy Warhol have also been a favorite because of his involvement in the Pop art movement.
Here we've listed five important pieces at The Museum of Modern Art that visitors should make a beeline for before checking out the other influential works at this New York City museum.
Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night Is A Must-See
The Starry Night is one of the most important pieces of work in the MoMA. Painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1889, the mid-scale, oil-on-canvas painting depicts a night sky over a small hillside Dutch village. It is one of van Gogh's most beloved works which can be found on Floor 5 at the New York City modern art museum.
It might be Vincent van Gogh's most celebrated works of art because painting a nightscape seemed rare for the artist and it was painted from his barred bedroom during his 12-month stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in France after he cut off his ear and suffered a breakdown. In a letter to his brother, Theo, he spoke about how the night was more colorful than the day. The Starry Night shows us van Gogh's unstable mindset with swirling and curving hills, mountains, and sky, along with a dominating bright moon. The village below the tumultuous night sky was painted from memory and was not van Gogh's view from his room at the asylum with interpretations that the painting represented hope. Of course, there are many interpretations of the painting and why he painted it.
MoMA Houses Salvador Dali's The Persistence Of Memory: An Important Work Of Surrealism
On Floor 5 at the MoMA, visitors can study Salvador Dali's 1931 work, The Persistence of Memory, one of the most recognizable paintings of Surrealism where he painted unusual forms like the central figure that appears to be melting just like the pocket watches that surround it. Dali once described his artwork as "hand-painted dream photographs," which is exactly what visitors to the MoMA will see here and interpret for themselves.
Salvador Dali is one of the world's most acclaimed Surrealists, however, he was also known as a sculptor, printmaker, and even filmmaker, working alongside Alfred Hitchcock. Dali's The Persistence of Memory is one of his most acclaimed works which depicts the fluidity of time with melting watches and melting flesh in the center that's said to be Dali himself. Along with the soft and hard objects that surround the painting, he also adds a touch of home with rocky cliffs at the upper right-hand corner that resembles those in Catalonia, Spain.
Claude Monet's Water Lillies Is A Favorite Among Art Lovers
On Floor 2, visitors will feel a part of the painting when standing in front of Claude Monet's Water Lillies. This enormous work of art, which was painted on more than 40 large-scale panels, was created during the final decades of Monet's life where he recreates the lily ponds in his gardens in Giverny, France.
MoMA was able to acquire one of the panels in 1955, and today, the museum houses a collection of Monet's Water Lillies. The Water Lillies have been extremely well received at the museum, driving home Monet's idea that art gives a break from our modern and sometimes overwhelming lives.
Claude Monet was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement and was interested in painting the effects of light and shadow on color. His water lilies were his final mural-sized paintings before his passing in 1926.
Jackson Pollock's One: Number 31 1950 Is A "Drip" Technique Masterpiece
On Floor 4 of The Museum of Modern Art is a painting by famed American artist Jackson Pollock which showcases the "drip" technique, showing his Abstract Expressionist style. Titled One: Number 31, 1950, Pollock's large-scale painting was brought to the MoMa four months after his death in 1956.
Pollocks' style of painting is very unique as he would lay the canvas on the floor and would fling and drip thinned enamel paint creating what looked like a dance. This particular painting at the MoMA is one of three drip-style paintings with the other two titled Autumn Rhythm (Number30) and Blue Poles. Pollock felt that in all of his drip paintings, "there is no accident, just as there is no beginning and no end."
Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans Is Instantly Recognizable With His Fascination With Consumer Culture
American artist Andy Warhol was one of the most popular figures of his time, becoming a leading artist of the Pop art movement of the 1960s. Pop art is a style of art based on images of everyday items and mass-produced commercial goods. At the MoMA, visitors can see a large painting of the now-famous Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol on Floor 4.
Made up of 32 canvases, one of each of the Campbell soup flavors, Warhol chose to paint the product, stating, "I used to have the same lunch every day, for twenty years, I guess, the same thing over and over again."
Visitors to the MoMA can also find Andy Warhol's Gold Marilyn Monroe, which showcases a photograph of Monroe's face centered around a gold-painted canvas.