It’s the Last Weekend to Visit MoMA Before It Closes for Renovations

The biggest change may be to what the museum displays.

Roberta Smith, The Times’s co-chief art critic, wrote, “The story of modernism as we know it — linear and dominated by European male geniuses — will be radically revised, expanded and rendered more inclusive.”

She also wrote, “The absence of art by women in the first six galleries is breathtaking,” adding that “in some places you’ll see MoMA trying to bend its linear view of history toward the justice, and reality, of this more complex view. But it is going to take some doing.”

Modernizing MoMA

The museum seems prepared to upgrade and diversify its collection.

In April, MoMA installed Jennifer Bartlett’s 1975-76 magnum opus, “Rhapsody,” in the atrium. Ms. Smith says it “exemplifies the pluralism that MoMA needs to aim for in its next life.”

There is also the work of Gabriele Münter, a German expressionist painter, to consider. MoMA does not have any of her work in its collection, Ms. Smith noted.

“Perhaps MoMA might sell or trade some Picassos to acquire work by female artists,” she suggested.

MoMA lists 1,241 Picasso works online, compared with 385 by Matisse and 46 by Braque, Ms. Smith wrote. And selling Picassos would not be new: The museum sold 20 Picasso paintings between 1929 and 1998, she said.

“Starry Night”

Yes, Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” will resume its prominent place in the museum, according to MoMA.

What about MoMA PS1?

The museum, in Queens, will maintain its regular schedule, noon to 6 p.m. Thursday through Monday.