Brancusi at MoMA: The Sculptor's Studio as the Artwork
MoMA opens Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio on Oct. 25, with rarely lent works from the Atelier Brancusi. What is in it and why the studio is the subject.
On Sunday, Oct. 25, the Museum of Modern Art opens Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio, a show that treats Constantin Brancusi's Paris workplace as seriously as the sculptures made in it. The exhibition runs through Feb. 27, 2027, spans the museum's entire sixth floor and brings rarely lent works from the Atelier Brancusi, which belongs to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. MoMA calls it "a once-in-a-generation opportunity."
Why the studio matters
Brancusi (1876 to 1957) lived and worked for more than 40 years, from 1916 until his death, at his studio on the impasse Ronsin in Paris. MoMA's announcement describes it as a dynamic environment where he made art, entertained friends and clients, and exhibited. After 1920, according to MoMA, he increasingly withdrew from public exhibitions in France and preferred to welcome visitors into the studio to see his work as he wanted it shown. He also became the only photographer of his own work, dissatisfied with other people's attempts to capture it, and documented the studio's shifting arrangements in photographs and film.
That is why MoMA says the studio is the lens for the show. In this context, "Brancusi blurred boundaries between pedestal and object, and between contained form and surrounding environment."
What will be on view
MoMA's press release names Leda (1926), Bird in Space (1928) and Fish (1930) as examples of a sculptural language in which forms are distilled to essentials. Multiple versions of Mlle Pogany (1912-1913; 1913; 1933) and The Kiss (c. 1919; 1923-1925; c. 1940) show motifs recurring in different materials. The show also includes hand-carved furniture and bases, tools, photographs, films and archival materials from the Atelier Brancusi, along with MoMA's own Brancusi holdings and key local loans.
The presentation is largely chronological and traces how the works grew in scale and ambition. It also follows contrasts the museum highlights: rough-hewn bases against polished surfaces, hand-crafting against machine finishing, organic irregularity against geometric precision. Several sculptures are presented on their original hand-carved wood and stone bases, which MoMA says are as formally considered as the works they carry.
The people behind it
Guest curator Anne Umland and assistant curator Mia Matthias organized the show with curatorial assistant Samantha Small. They collaborated with Ariane Coulondre and Valerie Loth of the Centre Pompidou, which organized Brancusi: Art Is Just Beginning in 2024. Umland said Brancusi "often said he wanted his works to be experienced together, in relation to one another," and that the show gives New Yorkers a chance to do exactly that.
Why now
The loan exists because of a renovation. MoMA says the exhibition is made possible by the temporary closure of the Atelier Brancusi during the renovation of the Centre Pompidou's Paris building, and is part of a series of exhibitions arranged during that closure. The main sponsor is MoMA's partner Hyundai Card, with leadership support from the Eyal and Marilyn Ofer Family Foundation, the Noel and Harriette Levine Endowment, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation and Monique M. Schoen Warshaw.
The book
MoMA is publishing a companion album of Brancusi's own photographs of his sculptures and studio, more than 130 photographs across 160 pages with 136 illustrations. The hardcover costs $60 (ISBN 978-1-63345-197-1) and will be sold at MoMA Design Stores and online. The release says the photographs range from close studies of single sculptures to wide-angle views of arranged ensembles.
Also at MoMA this fall
MoMA's exhibition calendar also lists The Surrealist Book: Tomorrow Lives in Mirrors, which opens Oct. 4, and Jakob Kudsk Steensen: Wetland, which opens Oct. 12. We did not read those pages in full, so we are not describing them here.
Planning a visit
The museum is in Midtown Manhattan at 11 West 53 Street. We have not verified ticket prices, timed entry or member preview hours for the Brancusi show, so check MoMA's site. The announcement says the Bloomberg Connects digital experience for the show is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, but we have not seen what it contains.
What we could not confirm
This article is based on MoMA's May 7 announcement, which is promotional by nature. We did not find critic reviews, since the show has not yet opened, and we cannot judge how the installation will look. The cover photograph is Edward Steichen's 1920 picture of Brancusi's studio, not an installation view of the MoMA show.
FAQ
When is Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio on view?
Oct. 25, 2026, through Feb. 27, 2027.
Where is it?
On the sixth floor of MoMA, 11 West 53 Street, in Manhattan.
Who organized it?
Guest curator Anne Umland and assistant curator Mia Matthias, with Centre Pompidou collaboration.
Sources
*Cover photo: Edward Steichen, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Steichen_-_Brancusi.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Steichen_-_Brancusi.jpg)* (Public domain).*