Met plans merger with Neue Galerie in major Lauder gift

The Metropolitan Museum of Art plans to merge with the Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie New York in 2028, bringing one of the country’s most important 20th-century Austrian and German art collections under the Met’s ownership while keeping the Neue Galerie’s Fifth Avenue museum open.

The agreement, announced Thursday, would make the Neue Galerie the Met’s third public site, joining its flagship Fifth Avenue location and the Met Cloisters. After the merger closes, the museum and its home in the William Starr Miller House will be renamed the Met Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie.

The deal is subject to necessary approvals, the institutions said. Financial terms were not disclosed, but The New York Times reported that an endowment for the long-term care and preservation of the Neue Galerie is estimated at $200 million.

The Neue Galerie, founded by Lauder and the late art dealer Serge Sabarsky, opened in 2001 and has become closely associated with Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, the gold-leaf painting often called the “Woman in Gold.” The collection also includes works by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Gabriele Münter and Josef Hoffmann.

Lauder, 82, told the Times the merger aims to preserve the smaller museum’s identity beyond his tenure.

“Somehow I don’t think I’m going to live to 120,” Lauder told the newspaper. “I want to make sure that after I’m no longer there — whatever happens — the Neue Galerie will stay the Neue Galerie.”

The planned merger coincides with the Neue Galerie’s 25th anniversary and aims to preserve the museum’s collection and visitor experience while integrating its assets and operations into one of the world’s largest museums, according to the announcement.

Lauder and his daughter, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, also plan to donate Austrian and German paintings from their personal collection to the combined institution. The Met announcement described the gift as 13 paintings; the Times referred to 16 artworks.

Works expected to be given by Lauder when the agreement closes include Klimt’s Die Tänzerin, Kirchner’s Die Russische Tänzerin Mela and Beckmann’s Galleria Umberto. Other promised gifts from Lauder and Zinterhofer include Klimt’s The Black Feather Hat and works by Otto Dix, George Grosz and Franz Marc.

Lauder said Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, which he bought in 2006 for $135 million after it was restituted to Maria Altmann, will remain at the Neue Galerie rather than move to the Met’s main building, calling it “our Mona Lisa.”

Lauder and Zinterhofer also plan to contribute to an endowment for the Neue Galerie’s long-term care and preservation, as well as a pledge for additional funds for costs tied to integrating the collection and building operations.

Several Met trustees have pledged funds toward a separate endowment, with a lead gift from trustee Marina Kellen French, according to the Met.

“For the past twenty-five years, the Neue Galerie’s exhibitions, permanent collection, design and book shops, and Café Sabarsky have created an experience that transports visitors to another time—early twentieth-century Vienna and Weimar Germany,” Lauder said in a statement. “The merger with The Met in 2028 will preserve and strengthen the Neue Galerie’s legacy in perpetuity.”

Max Hollein, the Met’s director and chief executive, said Lauder had built “a museum that is itself a work of art” and said the Met was “honored to carry on” the legacy.

The combined museum is expected to continue exhibiting the Neue Galerie collection and operating its galleries, shops and Café Sabarsky. The institutions said the merger would also allow for expanded research, digital projects, interpretation and programming.

A special advisory board would be created to guide the next phase of the museum, with Lauder serving as its first chair.

The merger would also transfer the Neue Galerie’s broader assets to the Met to help support the collection and operations. It remains unclear what the merger will mean for the Neue Galerie’s staffing and leadership.

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