The Metropolitan Museum in New York has announced, it is to close temporarily starting today, March 13. It will close all three locations—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters to support New York City’s effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. The Museum will undertake a thorough cleaning and plans to announce next steps early next week.
The Met’s priority is to protect and support our staff, volunteers, and visitors – Daniel H. Weiss CEO
Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of the Museum, stated: “The Met’s priority is to protect and support our staff, volunteers, and visitors, and we have been taking several proactive precautionary measures, including discouraging travel to affected areas, implementing rigorous cleaning routines, and staying in close communication with New York City health officials and the Centers for Disease Control. While we don’t have any confirmed cases connected to the Museum, we believe that we must do all that we can to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our community, which at this time calls for us to minimize gatherings while maintaining the cleanest environment possible. We look forward to soon announcing when we’ll be able to welcome our staff and visitors back to the Museum.”The Museum has been preparing for this possibility for several weeks, and has developed an operational plan that is now being put in place, which includes provisions to support salaried and hourly staff.
The National Gallery in Washington has followed as has the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. How long now before London?
Cancelled International Events
March 11: TEFAF Maastricht – Closes early on Wednesday, March 11, instead of March 15 as originally scheduled.
March 5: Artmonte-Carlo – Originally scheduled for May 1–3.
February 21: Jingart, Beijing – Originally scheduled for May 21–24.
February 7: Art Central Hong Kong – Originally scheduled for March 18–22.
February 6: Art Basel Hong Kong – Originally scheduled for March 19–21. (Art Basel will offer online viewing rooms for exhibitors from March 18–20 [VIP access] and March 20–25 [public access].)
January 31: Shanghai’s Festival of Design Architecture Conference – Originally scheduled for March 2020.
Postponed Events, US
March 12: Rizzoli Bookstore, New York – All events through March 31 are being postponed.
March 12: “On Fire: Judy Chicago Fireworks with Photographs by Donald Woodman” fundraising event at Through the Flower, Belen, New Mexico – Postponed from March 22 to July 26.
March 12: 2020 Nasher Prize Celebrations, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas – Postponed from April 2–4 to November.
March 12: Affordable Art Fair New York – Postponed from March 26–29 to dates yet to be announced.
March 12: Dallas Art Fair – Postponed from April 16–19 to October 1–4.
March 11: Art in Bloom festival at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh – The museum’s annual fundraising festival of art and flowers is being postponed to a date yet to be announced.
March 11: Paris Photo, New York – Postponed from April 2–5 to dates yet to be announced.
March 11: Asia Week New York Auctions – Nearly all themed sales by Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Doyle, Heritage, and iGavel rescheduled from March 12–19 to the week of June 22 (see “Key Upcoming Events to Watch” for more details); sales were originally postponed on February 12 with no new dates specified.
March 11: Pace and Gagosian’s Donald Marron Collection Exhibition, New York – Moved from April 24–May 16 to new dates yet to be announced.
Postponed Events, International
March 12: Art Cologne – Postponed from April 23–26 to November 19–26.
March 12: Affordable Art Fair Brussels – Postponed from March 20–22 to dates yet to be announced.
March 12: ArteBA, Buenos Aires – Postponed from April 16–19 to dates yet to be announced at the instruction of the city government of Buenos Aires.
March 11: Drawing Now Art Fair, Paris – Moved from March 26–29 to May 29–June 1.
March 10: Berlin Gallery Weekend – Exhibitions and small-scale events will proceed on May 1–3, but large-scale events will be moved to September 1–3.
March 10: Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania “Dark Mofo” music festival –Originally scheduled for June 10–22; now cancelled.
March 9: The Photography Show and Video Show, Birmingham, UK – Moved from March 14–17 to September 2020 (exact dates to be announced).
March 8: Sharjah Art Foundation’s March Meeting – Moved from March 21–23 to new dates yet to be announced.
March 6: Miart, Milan – Moved from April 17–19 to September 10–13.
March 5: Art Paris – Moved from April 2–5 to May 28–31.
March 5: Venice Architecture Biennale – Moved from May 23–November 29 to August 29–November 29.
March 3: Art Dubai – Downsized to a yet-to-be-announced program of talks, exhibitions, and events taking place from March 25–28.
March 3: Lille Art Up! – Moved from March 5–8 to June 25–28.
February 27: Milan’s Salon del Mobile – Moved from April 21–26 to June 16–21.
February 24: Sotheby’s Hong Kong Sales – Modern and contemporary art evening sales initially scheduled for the week of April 3 have been moved to April 16 in New York; sales of jewellery, watches, wine, and Asian art planned for the week of April 3 will remain in Hong Kong but take place in July on dates yet to be announced.
February 14: Hong Kong Art Gallery Association’s Art Gallery Day – Moved from March 19 to April 3; South Island Art Day moved from March 16 to April 4; an Outdoor Sculpture Installation and Exhibition has been added to the calendar for March 26–April 26, and an Art Talk and Art Picnic has been for March 28.
February 11: Bonhams Hong Kong Sales – Sales scheduled for March have been postponed to new dates yet to be announced.
February 7: Christie’s Hong Kong Sales – 20th-century and contemporary art sales moved from March 19–20 to May 30–31; sales of fine wine and rare spirits moved from the week of March 16 to May 29–30.
February 5: Gallery Weekend Beijing – Tentatively moved from March 13–20 to mid-April; a final decision about whether the event will be postponed or cancelled outright will be announced by March 15.
January 31: Design Shanghai Fair – Moved from March 12–15 to May 26–29.
January 30: CAFA Art Museum’s inaugural Techne Triennial, Beijing – Postponed from its February 20 opening to new dates yet to be announced.
US Museum Closures and Admission Limits
March 12: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC – Closed beginning March 13 with a tentative reopening date of April 4.
March 12: The Whitney Museum, New York – Temporarily closed to the public starting March 13 and will review options to reopen on March 27.
March 12: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York – Temporarily closed to the public starting March 13. All public events scheduled through April 30, 2020, are cancelled or postponed.
March 12: Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo, Washington, DC and New York – Temporarily closed to the public starting Saturday, March 14.
March 12: The Bronx Museum, New York – The museum is closing to the public beginning March 13, and all upcoming programs are cancelled.
March 12: The New Museum, New York – The museum is closing its galleries and offices as of March 13 and plans to reevaluate the situation in two weeks.
March 12: The Brooklyn Museum, New York – The museum is closed, and public programs have been cancelled until further notice.
March 12: Neue Galerie, New York – The museum is closed until further notice, and public programs in the immediate future have been cancelled.
March 12: SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York – The museum is closing, effective immediately. It will open planned exhibitions of work by Tishan Hsu and Jesse Wine on May 8.
March 12: The Drawing Center, New York – The museum will temporarily close its galleries from March 13. Public programs are postponed until April 12, and all tickets have been automatically refunded.
March 12: Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, Massachusetts – The museum is closed, and all public programming is cancelled; plans will be reevaluated on April 1.
March 12: The Shed, New York – The galleries are closed, and all performances are cancelled beginning 6 p.m., March 12, through March 30.
March 12: The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, Michigan – The institute, and the Fed Galleries of Kendall College of Art & Design of Ferris State University, which it manages, will be closed through March 31.
March 12: The Watermill Center, Water Mill, New York – The centre will be closed to the public through March 31.
March 12: The Center for Italian Modern Art, New York – The museum will be closed until at least March 31.
March 12: The South Street Seaport Museum, New York – The museum will be closed beginning March 13 for at least two weeks.
March 12: The Jewish Museum, New York – The museum will be closed for two weeks beginning March 13.
March 12: The Brant Foundation, New York – The museum is closed effective immediately.
March 12: Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut – The museum will be closed March 13–April 15.
March 12: Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York – The museum will be closed beginning March 15.
March 12: Ballroom Marfa, Texas – The institution will be closed March 12–31.
March 12: Harvard Art Museums, Institute of Contemporary Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – The museums are closed as of March 13.
March 12: Library of Congress, Washington, DC – Library facilities are closed to the public through March 31.
March 12: Museum at Eldridge Street, New York – The museum will temporarily suspend operations effectively March 15.
March 12: Frick Collection, New York – The museum is closed effective immediately, and has cancelled all upcoming events through April 3, including its Young Fellows Ball, initially scheduled for March 12.
March 12: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – The museum will be closed beginning March 13 and will announce next steps early next week.
March 12: Irish Arts Center, New York – All public programming cancelled until April 1.
March 12: Chinati, Marfa, Texas – The museum will be closed March 12–24 at the recommendation of West Texas health officials.
March 11: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Somerville, Massachusetts – The museum is closed indefinitely.
March 11: Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, Cold Spring, New York – The foundation galleries will be closed March 12–26, with a planned March 21 lecture taking place via livestream.
March 11: Spain’s Museums – All government-run museums in Madrid, including the Prado, the Museo Reina Sofia, and the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, are closed indefinitely by order of the Spanish Ministry of Culture. La Sagrada Familia has limited visitors to 1,000 people at any given time.
March 11: Frye Art Museum, Seattle – The museum will be closed March 12–31; all public programming cancelled until April 30.
March 11: Seattle Art Museum – All public programming cancelled until April 1; galleries remain open for regular visiting hours, but all three museum libraries are currently closed.
March 11: Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York – All public programming cancelled through April 1; the opening of “Bisa Butler: Portraits” is delayed two days to March 17, when galleries will be open for regular visiting hours.
March 11: Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts – All public programming cancelled through April 1; galleries remain open for regular visiting hours.
March 11: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art – All public programming cancelled until further notice; galleries remain open for regular visiting hours.
March 10: Poster House, New York – The museum is closed through March 14.
March 10: Henry Art Gallery, Seattle – The museum is closed, suspending all onsite operations through March 30.
International Museum Closures and Admission Limits
March 12: Berlin Cultural Institutions – The German capital will close all museums and cultural institutions beginning March 13, effective until at least April 20.
March 11: Albertina Modern Museum, Vienna – Grand opening postponed from March 13 to a date yet to be announced.
March 9: The Louvre – Only visitors with pre-booked e-tickets will be guaranteed entry until further notice.
March 9: Musée d’Orsay – The number of visitors inside the museum will be capped at 1,000 until further notice.
March 8: Italy’s Museums – All museums and heritage sites in the country are closed until April 3.
February 28: Japan’s Museums – All museums closed until March 17; the opening of “Masterpieces From the National Gallery” at Tokyo’s National Museum of Western Art delayed.
February 23: South Korea’s Museums – All national museums and libraries closed until further notice.
February 4: Foshan’s He Art Museum and Beijing’s X Museum – Grand openings postponed indefinitely; the X Museum has launched a “gamified” virtual project space in the interim.
January 28: Hong Kong’s Museums – All government-run museums, stadiums, and public gathering places closed indefinitely.
January 23: China’s Museums – All museums closed until further notice; state officials have directed all institutions to launch online “cloud exhibitions” based on their expected programming.
Closed Art Galleries, US
March 12: Gagosian, New York – All five New York locations are closed starting March 13 until a to-be-determined date.
March 12: Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York and Rome – Both locations are closed for the next two weeks.
March 12: David Zwirner, New York – New York locations on 19th Street and 69th Street will close temporarily beginning Monday, March 16. The 20th Street space will remain open. All talks and events have been postponed or cancelled.
March 12: Hauser & Wirth, New York and Los Angeles – The New York and Los Angeles locations are closed except by appointment, with all public programming suspended. All global travel for staff has been suspended.
March 12: Pace Gallery, New York – The New York galleries are closed except by appointment on a case-by-case basis.
March 12: David Lewis, New York – The gallery is closed indefinitely.
March 12: Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, New York – The gallery will be closed indefinitely beginning March 14.
March 12: François Ghebaly, Los Angeles – The gallery will stay open through the end of its current exhibitions on March 29, but is postponing upcoming shows and moving to an appointment-only structure.
Key Upcoming Events
The below events are still scheduled to go forward on the listed dates but may be cancelled or modified in the days or weeks to come. (To see a full list of art fairs scheduled to take place through June 2020, see here.)
March 16: Sotheby’s New York – Modern and contemporary South Asian art sale
March 18: Christie’s New York – South Asian Modern and contemporary art sales
March 20: Villepin Gallery, Hong Kong, grand opening
March 25–30: Salon du Dessin, Paris
April 1–5: SP-Arte
April 23–26: Art Brussels
May 6–10: Frieze New York
May 8–11: TEFAF New York Spring
June 15–21: Liste, Basel
June 18–21: Art Basel
June 25–July 1: Masterpiece London