Category: Exploring Midtown Manhattan

Day Three Hundred and Ninety-Three Private Members Night-Halloween at the MoMA October 27th, 2026

It is the week of Halloween in New York City and the Museum of Modern Art opened its door for a Members get together.

The MoMA was haunted on a pre-Halloween Night and members of the museum were looking for a fright!

On October 28th, the Museum of Modern Art held their annual Members Night with a Halloween theme “It’s Alive”. They asked members to dress up and carried the Halloween theme throughout the museum with entertainment, refreshments and art lectures on spooky looking art. It was a fun evening out on a warm October night.

The Costumed guests at the Museum of Modern Art

The guests were greeted at the museum with a DJ playing and a pumpkin carving display being created. On the second floor, there were arts and crafts for adults and children, while a spooky silent film played in a darkened hall. The theme of the evening was “It’s Alive” and the museum came to life with each member arriving.

Members mingling among the ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night

The sign welcoming us for the Members Evening “It’s Alive”

https://www.moma.org

https://www.moma.org/calendar/programs/193

https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11748

Many of the museums were having their Members Nights before the start of the holidays but nothing beats a night at the MoMA before Halloween night. This was no ordinary night of Trick role Treating at the museum. There was a costumed DJ spinning tunes as we entered and the whole lobby was filled with people in costume.

The lobby was the heart of the party

I love the art in the lobby

There was a pumpkin carving demonstration on the first floor when we walked in

The museum planned an array of activities to enjoy from the DJ spinning to the to the dancing and music on the first floor. Pumpkin carving and artwork to enjoy with our creative side to a spooky silent film to watch and then tour the haunted halls of the museum looking for sinister art. Movies and music on the patio as the sun set and the moon rose in the night sky.

Our directory of the evening

My first stop was the outside patio and it was just beautiful this evening with the weather warm at 65 degrees and such a pleasant night to be outside. The cool weather finally gave way to a warm week leading into Halloween. Surrealist movies were playing on the screen while the Beauty of Midtown lights gleaned in the background.

The patio was busy with people chatting and enjoying the nice weather

My video on the patio

The patio fountains were lit for the evening

I then made my way to the second floor to watch a silent horror film, ‘The Cat and the Canary’

The beginning of the film

The movie in full

The silent film “The Cat and the Canary”

Watching the silent film

The silent film “The Cat and the Canary”

While we were watching the film, the tables were set with play dough and paper to create what inspired us. I created my version of Mr. Bill. It was fun being a kid again!

The table setting our spooky instructions

The spooky instructions

My version of Mr. Bill doing the scream

My creative artwork

After my time with the arts and crafts , I sat down to watch the full film which had lots of twists and turns on it.

I needed a drink after the film was over and with it being Midterms week at work, I really needed one to relax me. I eyed the Blood Orange Margarita and watch it get mixed. They even put a small gummy eye at the bottom of the drink.

The Blood Orange Margarita sounded good after a long week of running around

The margarita looked cute but not for $17.00. I thought it was a bit small with too much ice. The candy eyeball was cute though.

As I was enjoying my drink and listening to the music, the museum laid out trays of Halloween candy like M & M’s and Tootsie rolls, which got devoured quickly. As I walked around the lobby, the main floor turning into a dance floor of witches and ghosts and many costumed characters.

The make shift dance floor on the first floor

The party continued on the first floor

I continued the evening walking the galleries of the Fifth Floor looking for Halloween art. There were talks and tours all night and I joined other members on the Fifth Floor and I found many ‘haunting’ objects in the halls of the MoMA.

Artwork on the Fifth Floor

The spider like Alexander Calder piece

The colorful surreal pieces of the Fifth Floor

A missing mysterious magician

A headless Spector rooming the halls

Colorful art dominating the Fifth floor

The party continued into the later evening with the dance floor going strong.

The costumed characters on the dance floor on the first floor

I took a break from the festivities and relaxed on the patio enjoying the warm night and admiring the lights of Midtown. With everything going on in the world today, the MoMA tricked us in for a real treat at the museum that night.

Relaxing in the patio at the end of the evening

The haunted pools of the patio relaxed me that evening.

All good things come to an end and the museum started to close down by 9:00pm. I could tell many of the party goers did not want to leave but out into the darkness we went only to be treated by the array of lights to Midtown Manhattan.

Looking at the MoMA from a distance down Seventh Avenue

Decorating for Halloween has become a big business and all signs of the Fall were around us. Unfortunately with Halloween on Saturday I was already seeing the signs of Christmas lurking in the background. Designers were putting up pine displays and decorations you could see just waiting for Halloween night to end. Still for tonight, Midtown was a haunting display.

Pumpkins lining an office building on Sixth Avenue

The Fall leaves are falling along the sides of West 55th Street

Looking down 8th Avenue at night

It was fun to walk around the City on this warm October night and enjoy the pre-Halloween festivities. Trick or Treat everyone!

Boo!

Day Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Artist Party-Ruth Asawa-Member’s Night at the MoMA November 22nd, 2025

The front of the Museum of Modern Art on 11West 53rd Street

https://www.moma.org/

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d105126-r1040038069-The_Museum_of_Modern_Art_MoMA-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

There is always a lot of excitement when a new art exhibition is ready to open. It is even better when the museum opens it to its members first before the public gets a glimpse. It gives a chance to see the exhibitions before it opens to the public.

The long line of MoMA members waiting to get into the museum for the opening night of Artist Ruth Asawa’s exhibition

I noticed this year especially and right before Thanksgiving, all the museums are throwing open their doors for Member’s Nights. I have been invited to five Members Nights at museums all over the City. You can’t attend them all.

The excitement the museum creates for these evenings

Video of entering the museum at the start of the opening with 80’s Japanese Pop Music

I think in an economy like this, these Members Nights are one of the best ways to engage with the membership for both donations and renewals of memberships especially before the holiday season. Plus it gives the members a wonderful night out to see the exhibitions ahead of time and enjoy the evening after a long week at work.

The opening of the Ruth Asawa Retrospect

Artist Ruth Asawa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Asawa

Home

The biography of the artist and her works

https://www.moma.org/artists/21-ruth-asawa

Biography of Artist Ruth Asawa:

(from the Museum of Modern Art website)

Born on a farm in Southern California, Asawa began her arts education when she was a teenager and she and her family were among the thousands of persons of Japanese descent who were forcibly incarcerated by the US government during World War II. It was at the internment camp that Asawa began taking classes in painting and drawing. After her release, Asawa studied to be a teacher but was unable to get a license because of her Japanese heritage, so she enrolled at Black Mountain College, an experimental art school in North Carolina. Asawa took classes from and worked alongside fellow artists Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, and R. Buckminster Fuller. Black Mountain was also where she met her husband, the architect Albert Lanier.

I loved her wire woven sculptures.

The wire woven sculptures were the standouts of the exhibition

I thought these were a unique design

I liked here colorful paintings, these are of her child’s footprints. I loved the idea that her children were involved with the art

The patrons enjoying the art

The display of the wire art

The displays were impressive and graceful

The colorful faces looked tired

The look of nature in the wire art in the form of trees

I loved her works of food

At the end of the exhibition and the evening, I joined everyone on the main floor where the bar and gift shop were located. The main floor was the busiest part of the museum. I wondered if some of these people even went upstairs to see the exhibition or just stayed downstairs to socialize.

The main floor of the museum is always packed with people

Share in the excitement of the Membership opening

These evenings always get my mind off the stress of life. It is nice to just be in Midtown Manhattan and be in the moment. It is nice to see art, hear music and walk through the museum.

Day Three Hundred and Forty-Two Private Members Nights at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) May 27th, 2025

Day Three Hundred and Forty-Two Private Members Nights at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) May 27th, 2025

What also is difficult is when two major museums have their Members Night on the same night. I had to do a lot of coordinating to go to both museums. What made it work is that both museums closed at different times with The Met closing at 10:00pm. I timed it perfectly.

Members Night at the MoMA ‘Behind the Flowers’ for the Hilma af Klint exhibition

The theme that evening was based on the Hilma af Klint exhibition

https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5779

Going this evening took a lot of planning as I had to teach in the morning and cut the lawn on the afternoon. I was already exhausted by the time I left for the City at 4:00pm. Even on this gloomy afternoon, the weather held and it was a nice evening.

The area around the museum was in full bloom that early evening

The event opened early at the MoMA with their event from 6:00pm-9:00pm and the Met went from 7:00pm-10:00pm so I was able to enjoy both with a lot of walking in between. It was worth it as I was able to see several exhibitions on my bucket list before they closed. With work and finals, it had been tough to visit both of them.

People were enjoying conversation and cocktails when I arrived at the MoMA that evening.

I decided to start my evening at the Sculpture Garden on the first floor. The weather was cloudy but still it was a warm evening. People were conversing near the fountains and listening to music. The lines for the cash bar never let up and they were about thirty deep the whole time.

The Sculpture Garden at the MoMA

While I walked around the gardens and fountains I noticed a lot of the art that they were featuring was really unique, some of which I had not seen before.

The gardens with the poppies in bloom

This beautiful mosaic of a octopus did not have a name

This metal artwork was towards the back of the sculpture garden

The Met at night is quite dazzling

The entrance to The Met in the evening

Looking down Fifth Avenue at night

The entrance in the Rotunda was filled with fresh flowers and members chatting away. I even saw some of the members I had seen at the MoMA earlier.

The floral arrangements were spectacular

The beauty of the Rotunda in the evening

Maybe because these Members Nights were on a Tuesday evening, they both did not seem as crowded as they had been in the past. The museum was crowded but not as crowded as the past two Member’s Nights. I think that I arrived at 8:00pm most people were starting to leave. What was nice was that the MoMA night went until 9:00pm and The Met Night went until 10:00pm so it gave me the time to run through both museums.

I started my tour of The Met in the Greek Galleries looking at the Cycladic Art. I always loved the looks of these works.

https://www.metmuseum.org/departments/greek-and-roman-art

The entrance to the Cycladic Wing

The Cycladic Gallery in the Greek wing

Some of the interesting cases I admired that night

I then did a quick tour of the Roman Galleries which I had not toured in detail since the galleries opened years ago.

https://www.metmuseum.org/departments/greek-and-roman-art

Touring the Roman Galleries

Touring the Roman Gslleries

Touring the Roman Galleries

After the tour of the Roman Galleries, I headed to the Egyptian Galleries, I wanted to explore the galleries and get a drink at the Members Bar.

https://www.metmuseum.org/departments/egyptian-art

I love the Egyptian Galleries. I have been coming here since 1973 and have loved them ever since.

I love the ancient hieroglyphics

For the last two Members Nights, the Members Bar was in the Temple of Dendur. It is always so well lit and the music was wonderful. It is a nice way to end the evening.