One of the Metropolitan Museum of Art branches will be closed for good, becoming yet another business to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Met Breuer will be closing for good in July, the museum confirmed. Instead, the building on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side will be handing over the keys to The Frick Collection, which is being relocated while its home in the same neighborhood undergoes renovations.
The Met Breuer had been home to many modern and contemporary collections and exhibits. The museum began renting the building from the Whitney Museum of Art back in 2015, and renamed the brutalist structure after its designer, Marcel Breuer.
However, as museums around the world struggle with revenue and budget cuts due to extended closures from the pandemic, the Met also was forecasting a major loss — as much as a $150 million shortfall, according to ArtNet. That has led to 81 employee layoffs, the site reported, and now permanent closure of one of its three branches.
Meanwhile the main branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue as well as the Met Cloisters in Upper Manhattan both plan on reopening on August 29, a museum spokesperson said Wednesday.
