And it has endured a turbulent few years.

But Hollein, 48, who will be just the 10th director at the Met in 148 years, will have two first-order issues to confront. One will be: How much energy should the Met put into modern and contemporary art? But having two leaders can be difficult.

The bigger issue — how many resources should the Met devote to modern and contemporary art? — is more existential.

One argument is that the Met, in opening the Met Breuer and planning a new $600 million wing for modern and contemporary art, overreached. But it’s not the full story.

The fact is that the Met should be showing and collecting contemporary art.

Source: Washington Post April 11, 2018 17:26 UTC