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The Met Breuer in the daytime on a sunny cloudless day. The building is an inverted pyramid made of concrete.

The Met Breuer, 2016–2020

On March 18, 2016, The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened The Met Breuer, its new space dedicated to modern and contemporary art. Housed in the landmark building designed originally by the great Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer, The Met Breuer enabled visitors to engage with the art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries through the global breadth and historical reach of The Met's unparalleled collection and resources through a range of exhibitions, commissions, performances, and artist residencies.

After four years, the Museum has now permanently closed its Breuer location. The Frick Collection will take over the building during the upgrade and renovation of its museum space at 1 East 70th Street.

In celebration of the past four years, we invite you to explore The Met Breuer's architectural history, before and during its life as The Met's modern and contemporary satellite, as well as a comprehensive listing of all past exhibitions and events.

 

Meet the building

Experience the architect Marcel Breuer's landmark 1966 creation and iconic sculpture through articles, publications, videos, and audio.

 

Dive into reflections about the building's history as a work of architectural sculpture and groundbreaking exhibition space.

How do you say goodbye to a building? Remembering four busy years at The Met Breuer

Executive Producer Nina Diamond reflects fondly on the remarkable building's time as The Met Breuer, and invites curators to speak to relationships between their exhibition designs and the architecture.

Related: Read more Breuer posts from our blogs

Marcel Breuer: Bauhaus Tradition, Brutalist Invention

Read our free online Bulletin dedicated to a visual history of the building commission and conservation, as well as the artistic journey of its architect, from Bauhaus-educated furniture designer to world-renowned architect.

Related: Discover more Breuer publications by The Met

 

Take a virtual tour and immerse yourself both inside and outside the building's sculptural spaces.

Breuer's Art of Space—Explore an Architectural Icon

Hear from insiders, experts, and even Breuer himself as you take a virtual tour through the building's history and The Met's renovation, with excerpts from The Met Breuer Architecture Tour podcast.

The Met 360° Project: The Met Breuer

Enjoy a 360° perspective: scan up the jagged facade to the trapezoidal window with clouds above, or hover inside the entrance lobby over the sunken garden courtyard.

Listen to a podcast that tours you through the building, below, or follow along with this illustrated blog post.

 

Explore past exhibitions

Browse all thirty-one past modern and contemporary exhibitions online and discover related content, including gallery walkthroughs, artist interviews, blogs, Primers, Audio Guides, and exhibition catalogues.

2020 exhibitions

A multi-media work on paper of two overlapping circular cut-outs, one showing a starry galaxy and another, a solar system diagram; the following overlay text appears in orange "From Gericault To Rockburne Selections From The Micheal & Juliet Rubenstein Gift

From Géricault to Rockburne: Selections from the Michael and Juliet Rubenstein Gift

January 29–March 12, 2020 (Intended closing date March 29, 2020)

A cool-toned, blue-and-white photorealistic painting of several iceburgs; the following overlay text appears in the upper lefthand corner "Gerhard Richter Painting After All"

Gerhard Richter: Painting After All

March 4–March 12, 2020 (Intended closing date July 5, 2020)

2019 exhibitions

A burnt orange surface with three clean, black parallel slits sloping ever-so-slightly towards the lower lefthand

Lucio Fontana: On the Threshold

January 23–April 14, 2019

Small mix-media sculptures float in a grid of white space with small blue text captions to the left of each sculpture; the following overlay text appears in the upper lefthand corner: "Siah Armajani Follow This Line"

Siah Armajani: Follow This Line

February 20–June 2, 2019

Photograph of an ant holding a small white flag within a blurred-out brown landscape; the following overlay text appears "Home is a Foreign Place Recent Acquisitions In Context"

Home Is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context

April 9, 2019–March 12, 2020 (Intended closing date June 21, 2020)

Two earth-tone, textile woven sculptures with a figurative presence against a grey backdrop; the following text appears overhead: "Phenomenal Nature Mrinalini Mukherjee"

Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini Mukherjee

June 4–September 29, 2019

An assorted group of vessels with wires emerging from their openings and single stereo stand atop white pedestals of varying heights; the following text appears overhead: "Oliver Beer: Vessel Orchestra"

Oliver Beer: Vessel Orchestra

July 2–August 11, 2019

Close-up black-and-white drawing of ocean waves; the following centered, overlay text appears: "VIJA CELMINS"

Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory

September 24, 2019–January 12, 2020

2018 exhibitions

Painting of several nude figures composed of rough and scratchy brush strokes of mixed white, red, pink and earthy colors appear to pose and struggle with one another against a burlap background; the following overlay text appears: "Leon Golub Raw Nerve"

Leon Golub: Raw Nerve

February 6–May 27, 2018

A sculpture of a naturalistically sculpted and painted male, bearded figure appears against a salmon pink backdrop under the following text: "Like Life Sculpture, Color, And The Body"

Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body (1300–Now)

March 21–July 22, 2018

Watercolor drawing of a thin nude male figure outlined in white with the following overlay text: "Obsession Nudes by Klimt, Schiele, and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection

Obsession: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele, and Picasso from the Scofield Thayer Collection

July 3–October 7, 2018

A wooden and mix media sculpture that resembles the shape of a horse head; the following overlay text appears: "Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture 1963-2017"

Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture 1963–2017

September 6–December 2, 2018

A composite, photocopied image of a type-written document and black-and-white image of standing male figure; a text overlay reads "Everything Is Connected Art And Conspiracy"

Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy

September 18, 2018–January 6, 2019

Illustration of a ten-by-ten grid of x's composed of one read line and one black line; the x's are oriented right-side up all around the perimeter of the grid but rhythmically changed orientation inside; each quadrant of the grid still forms an overall mirror symmetry.

Julio Le Parc 1959

December 4, 2018–February 24, 2019

2017 exhibitions

Photograph of an abstract sculpture within a gallery room comprised of three stick-frame square tables of gradual heights with a portrait bust sculpture on the middle table followed by a suspended spiral textile sculpture; the following overlay text appears in the upper lefthand corner: "Marisa Merz The Sky Is A Great Place"

Marisa Merz: The Sky Is a Great Space

January 24–May 7, 2017

An internally lit and glowing trapezoidal void surrounded by bitch black darkness.

Breuer Revisited: New Photographs by Luisa Lambri and Bas Princen

February 1–May 21, 2017

A tall, tanned, and muscular male figure wearing a swimsuit stands on a beach against an active ocean and partly cloudy sky; the form of an anchor appears to the right; the following overlay text appears center left-aligned: Marsden Hartley's Maine

Marsden Hartley's Maine

March 15–June 18, 2017

Black-and-white photograph of a group of boys and girls emerging from one white, continuous cloth; the children face off in multiple directions; the following overlay text appears in the upper left corner: "Lydia Page A Multitude of Forms"

Lygia Pape: A Multitude of Forms

March 21–July 23, 2017

A graphically-designed image composed of orange background tiles outlined in black which frame black-and-white photographs surrounded by the following text: "The Body Politic"

The Body Politic: Video from The Met Collection

June 20–September 3, 2017

A close-up image of what appears to be an abstract sculpture composed of brightly colored, short rectangular planks joined seamlessly at various angles against a pitch black background; the title "Ettore Sottsass Design Radical" appears in small font in the upper righthand corner; diagonally alternating pairs of letters "SO "TT" "SA" "SS" cascade down the image.

Ettore Sottsass: Design Radical

July 21–October 8, 2017

Composite image of two pairs of darkly painted lips surround by the text "Delirious Art at the Limits of Reason 1950-1980"; the first pair of lips is slightly open with teeth showing and strings hanging out, while the second pair appears puckered in the shape of a kiss.

Delirious: Art at the Limits of Reason 1950–1980

September 13, 2017–January 14, 2018

A bustling composite images of people and overlapping images as if on a crowded urban street; the image floats on pitch black background with the following text: "Modernism on the Ganges Raghubir Singh Photographs"

Modernism on the Ganges: Raghubir Singh Photographs

October 11, 2017–January 2, 2018

Painting of a male figure standing straight and frontally between a tall grandfather clock to our left and the foot of a bed to our right; the painting includes earthy yet garish colors such as emerald green, cobalt blue, teal, yellow, orange, and red; the image includes the following overlay text: "Edvard Munch Between The Clock and The Bed"

Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed

November 15, 2017–February 4, 2018

Watercolor illustration of a floating head with red patch on its neck in the sky over an empty snow-covered landscapes with sparse trees on the horizon.

Provocations: Anselm Kiefer at The Met Breuer

December 13, 2017–April 8, 2018

2016 exhibitions

Gradients of architectural, straight, and parallel lines form a matrix prism of transparent and overlapping triangular forms; the following overlay text apprears: Nasreen Mohamedi

Nasreen Mohamedi

March 18–June 5, 2016

Illustration of a black man sitting in a pondering state with his hand resting on his check; his face is painted in but the rest of his clothed body is rendered in a loose black outline; the following text appears in the upper righthand corner: "Unfinished Thoughts Left Visible"

Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible

March 18–September 4, 2016

Tatsuo Miyajima: Arrow of Time (Unfinished Life)

April 19–September 25, 2016

A new light-based installation by Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima, Arrow of Time (Unfinished Life), was created to accompany The Met Breuer's inaugural exhibition Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible. The work takes its title from a concept popularized by British astronomer Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington in the late 1920s. "Time's arrow" describes the irreversibility of time, the very concept that Miyajima's installation enacts through the use of approximately 250 digital light-emitting diode (LED) counters.

Black-and-white photograph of an older woman dressed in a fur coat seated in the back of a bus, in front of a younger man looking out the window behind her; the photograph includes the following overlay text: "diane arbus in the beginning"

Diane Arbus: In the Beginning

July 12–November 27, 2016

Painting of an abstracted figure standing on a floating, transparent platform within a flat grid space colored in varying tones of hunter green and ochre yellow; the figure's arms are raised up and its blob body is covered in drawings of various abstracted animal forms.

Humor and Fantasy—The Berggruen Paul Klee Collection

September 1, 2016–January 2, 2017

Painting depicting several black persons posing and/or being posed for a painting within an artist's painting studio; the image is graphically cropped by a band of black space across the top with the following overlay text: "Kerry James Marshall Mastry"

Kerry James Marshall: Mastry

October 25, 2016–January 29, 2017

Kerry James Marshall Selects

October 25, 2016–January 29, 2017

Marshall draws on 40 works from The Met collection, ranging from the Northern Renaissance to French post-Impressionism, and from African masks to American photography of the 1950s and '60s, underscoring the global and historical nature of the influences that are predominant in his practice.

Met Department collaborations: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, European Painting, Drawings & Prints, American Wing, Photographs

 

Enjoy past events and performances

Experience four seasons of MetLiveArts exhibition-related and site-specific events and performances at The Met Breuer.

2019–2020 season

Oliver Beer: Vessel Orchestra

The artist Oliver Beer stands amongst vessels in a gallery space; a red play button appears in overlay at the center
Watch an interview with the artist, Oliver Beer.

Oliver Beer: Vessel Orchestra

  • Performance dates: July 2–August 11, 2019
  • First sound-based installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Co-curation by MetLiveArts and Department of Modern & Contemporary Art
  • The New Yorker wrote that Vessel Orchestra "may be the most eccentric and original keyboard instrument in the history of Western music."
  • Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Oliver Beer: Vessel Orchestra

2017–2018 season

Theater of the Resist                                             

A person speaks on stage under a spotlight in front of a seated audience; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch highlights from the performance series.

                                                                                          

Four seated panel speakers engage in conversation on stage in front of a seated audience; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch a panel discussion about the performance series, moderated by Nicole Fleetwood, Associate Professor, Department of American Studies, Rutgers University. Panelists include Lifers Group members Maxwell Melvins, president, and rapper Picard "Original" Galette.

Eiko Otake A Body in Places: The Met Breuer Edition 

A dancer lays on her back; with her legs raised and bent in a cycling motion; she rests atop a cloud of blue tulle textile

View the performance listing.

Gallim's (C)arbon

The artist Andrea Miller appears seated in front of a window; a red play button appears in overlay at the center
Watch an interview with the artist, Andrea Miller.

 

A dancer gestures with one hand outstretched and another overhead in front of a standing audience; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch a performance of (C)arbon—Love, Collide.

 

One standing dancer and one crouching dancer appears atop a dark square podium in a dark room; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch a performance of (C)arbon—Survive.

 

A large open room with a sculptural mound at its center; a dancer leans against a back-wall covered in a large-scale projection; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch a performance of (C)arbon—Mass.

Theater of the Resist

  • Performance dates: June 23–Aug 12, 2017
  • Staged on the fifth floor, black box theatre-style
  • Co-organized by MetLiveArts and political journalist and musician Kali Holloway
  • Brought more than forty singers, dancers, comedians, filmmakers, thought leaders to The Met Breuer over seven weekends. Opening the series, Egyptian political comedian, Bassem Youssef along with performers: Helga Davis, Zebra Katz, Davóne Tines, Mazz Swift and Sidra Bell Dance

Eiko Otake A Body in Places: The Met Breuer Edition

  • Performance dates: Nov. 12, 2017
  • Site-Specific, durational dance work
  • Part of Otake's ongoing work A Body in Places
  • The performances took place across all three Met Museum locations: Met Fifth Ave, Met Breuer, and Met Cloisters

Gallim's (C)arbon

  • Performance dates: May 18–24, 2018
  • Part of the 2017–18 Artist in Residence, Andrea Miller, season
  • First choreographer to be named MetLiveArts Artist in Residence
  • Over six days of performances, and six days of rehearsals, nearly 6,000 visitors
    witnessed this dance installation
  • Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Like Life: Sculpture, Color, and the Body

* Chef Yotam Ottolenghi's Feast of India

2016–2017 season

Netherlands Dans Theatre: Shutters Shut

Two dancers appear side-by-side in blurred motion as they stand with bent knees as if ready to jump; they appear in front of a gallery wall of small framed artworks; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch the performance.

David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion

Three musicians perform on stage cast in a moonlight glow of light; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch the performance.

Netherlands Dans Theatre: Shutters Shut 

David Lang's The Little Match Girl Passion

  • Performance dates: Dec. 20, 2016
  • Site-specific performance of David Lang's Pulitzer winning work The Little Match Girl Passion
  • Fully staged and directed by mutli-Tony Award-nominated director Rachel Chavkin
  • Staged in the lobby of The Met Breuer.

2015–2016 season

TEDxMet: The In-Between                                         

The text "TEDx" appears in red and the text "Met" appears in white, sandwiched between two red lines against a black backdrop

Taking place at the Breuer during its renovation, artists, writers, scientists, performers, and Met curators give a series of talks around the theme of the in-between.

John Luther Adams's Soundwalk 9:09    

Composite image: at left a close up of the Met Breuer, a concrete building shaped like an upside down pyramid; at right, the Met Museum's tree-lined Fifth Avenue facade entrance

View the event page to listen to audio recordings by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams.

David Dorfman's Dance in the Sunken Garden

A group of dancers jump in synchrony in a sunken garden at The Met Breuer

Read more about the site-specific performance on our blog.

Relation: A Performance Residency by Vijay Iyer

A musician seated at a grand piano addresses a seated audience

Read an interview with the artist on our blog.

Karlheinz Stockhausen's KLANG               

Three musicians perform on stage in front of a seated audience; a red play button appears in overlay at the center

Watch select performances.

TEDxMet: The In-Between

  • Event dates: Sept. 26, 2015
  • First program taking place at Breuer building, while still under construction
  • The Met Breuer was considered the event's main stage, while other speakers at The Met Fifth Avenue were in Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
  • Speakers included:
    - Ian Alteveer, Curator, Looking at images that are hard to see
    - Ken Applebaum, TEDxMet open call winner, Defending life (and art) by becoming a superhero
    - Bryan BedfordStudent, Musician, The in-between of a teenager
    - Kim Benzel, Curator, Our collective history in peril
    - Dawoud Bey, Artist, Art begins with an idea
    - Jennifer Finney Boylan, Author and Professor, A transgender path home
    - Doug Eklund, Curator, Let's rescue our imaginations 
    - Susan Fales-Hill, Author, In praise of complexity
    - Robin Goland, Endocrinologist, Type 1 Diabetes: from Cubism to a Cure
    - Ricky Jackson, Art lover, activist, and exoneree, Finding freedom in an art museum
    - Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Art educator, The fear of being found out
    - Sharon Olds, Poet, The poetry of the in-between
    - Jonathan Rose, Environmentalist and Real Estate Developer, Building balance in our cities
    - Leanne Shapton, Artist and Author, The Interregnum Series
    - Jerry Strauss, TEDxMet Open Call Winner, Giving my father back his name
  • Performances included:
    - Dance performance by Amar Ramasar
    - Musical performance of With a blue dress on performed by Sarah Goldfeather and composed by Julia Wolfe
    - Musical performance of Mamas by Isabella Rossellini, Actress, Model, and Filmmaker
    - Musical performance of Dark Full Ride by Talujon House Band
    - Musical performance of Punk Inuit by throat singer Tanya Tagaq
    - Theatrical performance of The Civilians Theater Company by Irena Sofia Lucio

John Luther Adams's Soundwalk 9:09

  • Available for download beginning March 10, 2016
  • New work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams, commissioned by MetLiveArts to celebrate the opening of The Met Breuer
  • Adams' first New York City composition
  • Audio soundscape for the walk between The Met 82nd and Breuer

David Dorfman's Dance in the Sunken Garden

  • Performance dates: March 18, 2016
  • Part of the opening day celebration
  • Performance took place 6 times throughout the day
  • Site-specific work created for garden incorporating the architecture

Relation: A Performance Residency by Vijay Iyer

  • Performance dates: opened The Met Breuer, March 18–31 2016
  • Full month artist residency featuring nearly 100 performers over 30 days
  • Most performances offered throughout Museum hours, free with Museum Admission
  • Featured world premiere of a commissioned work: Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke with Wadada Leo Smith, which was inspired by the work of Nasreen Mohamedi (March 30 and 31 2016, Met Breuer Fifth Floor)

Karlheinz Stockhausen's KLANG

  • Performance dates: March 25 and 26, 2016
  • Took place at all three Met locations: Met Fifth Avenue, Met Breuer, and Met Cloisters
  • American premiere

(End.)