Designed by Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi, the project expanded and unified MoMA's various buildings and additions into a whole. The renovation permitted the museum to reinstall its architecture and design, and photography collections that had been squeezed out because of lack of space. Ticket price complaints The line to view masterpieces of artists such as Munch, Matisse, van Gogh, Picasso and Pollock snaked down 53rd Street, traversing the block three times before wrapping around the corner of Sixth Ave. Several art lovers commented on the friendliness of the museum volunteers and staff. "It's a new culture of hospitality," said Ashley Seaman, 31, a Colorado resident who traveled to New York with her mother Carol and sister Amy. "It's such a palpable sense of optimism and teamwork," her sister Amy said. They said the museum never felt crowded despite the opening-day crush because the building's architecture was so wide open.
The only complaint seemed to be about the price of admission starting Sunday -- $20 per person for those between ages 16 and 65, a record high for New York museums. "This is not for the underclass," Orlando Lima of New York said to his friend Caleb Santana as they rode the escalator to the second floor. "My feeling is that everyone should be able to view art," said Lima, who runs a not-for-profit art program called Yili Art Foundation. "It's ridiculous," said 68-year-old Irma Williams of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, a town outside of Philadelphia. "How do you expose your family and kids to art if you can't afford a ticket?" MoMA officials have countered that children and those 16 years old and under are admitted for free. Full-time students are admitted for $12, and those 65 and older are charged $16. "That's still too much," Williams said.
