The Met and Neue Galerie Embark on Historic Merger
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and New York’s Neue Galerie will merge in 2028, with the Met taking ownership of the Neue Galerie’s Beaux-Arts mansion and renaming it the Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie. The announcement comes as the Neue Galerie prepares for renovations scheduled from May 27 through August 2026 and ahead of its 25th anniversary. Founder Ronald S. Lauder will chair a Special Advisory Board guiding the merger, and the Neue Galerie’s staff, collection displays, and Café Sabarsky are expected to continue operating. Fundraising aims to bring the endowment to about $200 million (reported as 80% reached), and Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer will donate 13 artworks, including Gustav Klimt’s Die Tänzerin (The Dancer) (1916–18) and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s Die Russische Tänzerin Mela (The Russian Dancer Mela) (1911).
From This Briefing
This story was covered in Mergers, Loot, and Museums in War Mode