Cosmetics billionaire Ronald Lauder's Neue Galerie, a private museum on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue known for its collection of Austrian and German art, will merge with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The merger takes effect in 2028, with the Neue Galerie retaining its physical space and staff. The announcement was made by The Met on May 14. The museum's star attraction is Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" (1907), and it also holds works by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, and others. Lauder co-founded the Neue Galerie with dealer Serge Sabarsky in 2001. As part of the merger, Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer will donate 13 additional paintings from their personal collection and make an undisclosed endowment gift.
This merger is significant because it represents a rare consolidation of two major New York art institutions, ensuring the long-term preservation and legacy of the Neue Galerie's specialized collection within the vast framework of The Met. It also highlights the continued influence of billionaire patrons like Lauder, who has been a longtime Met trustee and major donor, while drawing attention to the complex intersections of art, philanthropy, and politics, given Lauder's controversial financial backing of Donald Trump and his role as honorary chair of MoMA. The move echoes The Met's 1946 absorption of the Museum of Costume Art, but with the Neue Galerie retaining its independent identity.