Metropolitan Museum to Absorb Neue Galerie New York in Landmark Merger

Lauder, now 82, described the merger as a way to "für die Ewigkeit erhalten und stärken" the legacy of his museum. The billionaire, who also serves as president of the World Jewish Congress, acquired Gustav Klimt’s "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" for a then-record $135 million in 2006, making it the Neue Galerie’s crown jewel.

Expanding the Met’s Collection

The merger brings a trove of modernist masterpieces into the Met’s collection, including works by Egon Schiele, Gabriele Münter, Oskar Kokoschka, Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, and Paul Klee. Hollein called these additions "Ikonen der Kunstgeschichte" that fill a gap in the Met’s holdings.

"Damit werde 'in einer unglaublich eindrucksvollen Form eine gewisse Lücke auch in der Sammlung des Metropolitan Museums' geschlossen," he added. The Met, founded in 1870, boasts six million annual visitors and a vast collection spanning antiquity to modernity but has historically lacked depth in early 20th-century Central European art.

Lauder and his daughter Aerin will donate 13 additional works from their private collection, including pieces by Klimt, Kirchner, and Beckmann. The Neue Galerie’s building—a Beaux-Arts landmark on Fifth Avenue—will remain intact as part of the agreement.