Met Breaks Ground on US$550 Million Tang Wing for Modern Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has started building its new home for modern art. Museum leaders broke ground on 15 September on the Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art, a five-storey, 126,000-sq.-ft building scheduled to open in 2030, The Art Newspaper.
That date matters for anyone planning a visit. Four years of construction now stand between New York and a much larger Met for art made in the last hundred years.
The design is by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo. She is the first woman to design a wing for the museum in its 156-year history, The Art Newspaper.
The numbers behind the project are large. The building work is costed at US$550 million, based on figures released when the design was unveiled in December 2024. The museum now says it has raised US$670 million to pay for construction and to support running the wing once it opens, The Art Newspaper.
In plain terms, the first figure is the price of the build. The second includes extra money set aside to keep the lights on, staff the galleries and care for the collection.
The wing’s full official name is the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing. It is named for financier Oscar Tang and his wife, archaeologist and art historian Agnes Hsu-Tang, whose US$125 million donation is the largest cash gift in the museum’s history.
That gift anchors the fundraising. The couple’s name was attached to the project before designs were made public, and the museum confirmed the record donation as part of the groundbreaking announcement.
Inside, the wing will create new galleries for art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The museum says the plan will increase its gallery space by nearly 50 percent, The Met.
For visitors, that means more room to show paintings, sculpture, photographs, video and installations from the modern era to the present day. Much of that material has long competed for space in a museum better known for older collections.
Construction had long been expected to begin in 2026. The museum says the build will generate 4,000 union jobs and targets 30-40 percent participation by minority- and women-owned businesses, The Met.
What makes this stand out is access. More gallery space decides what gets shown and who gets to see it. If the 2030 opening holds, the Met will have a new front door for art made within living memory.
