The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced a landmark merger with the Ronald S. Lauder Neue Galerie New York, set to take effect in 2028. The historic agreement will bring more than 613 artworks, spanning key Austrian and German artistic movements, into the Met’s collection, marking one of the most significant additions in the museum’s modern history.
Met Director and CEO Max Hollein described the gift as “one of the greatest and biggest” ever received by a museum, saying the works will substantially fill critical gaps in its holdings. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the collection is valued at approximately $1.5 billion.
The deal, brokered with Estée Lauder heir and prominent art collector Ronald Lauder and his family, includes a major highlight: Gustav Klimt’s large-scale portrait Die Tänzerin (The Dancer). This painting, along with 12 other select works from Lauder and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer’s personal collection, will now join the Met.
The Met-Neueu Collaboration
“The merger with The Met in 2028 will preserve and strengthen the Neue Galerie’s legacy in perpetuity,” said billionaire Ronald Lauder in an official statement.
Hollein added, “Ronald Lauder is a collector like none other. Among his many areas of connoisseurship, fin de siècle art from Austria and Germany is closest to his heart.”
The Met director, who has also been a trustee for the Neue Galerie for over 20 years, also revealed that the Met’s campus is set to expand. This comes as a long-standing expansion effort to build a new wing for modern and contemporary art. Aiming for 2030, the fresh set of galleries will be designed by architect Frida Escobedo for a whopping price tag of $550 million, spanning 126,000 square feet, according to ARTnews.
Speaking to Vogue, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer revealed, My father is 82, and I had just joined the board. It was the perfect time to do it. And with Max as head of the Met, all the stars were aligned.”
Inside Lauder’s Art Collection
Known for his extensive art collection, Ronald Lauder’s Neue Galerie is best known for Klimt’s ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’ (1907), which was seized by the Nazis in 1938. Lauder had bought it later for $135 million, setting a world record, a piece central to the Galerie’s collection.
Lauder, with an estimated net worth of $4.9 billion, as per Forbes, also has one of the most sprawling personal collections of his own. Set to have at least 4000 artworks, they range from six major categories: medieval art, arms and armour, German and Austrian Expressionist art, Post-Impressionist and modern art, 20th-century design, and contemporary art. In fact, as per the 2026 Wealth Report by Knight Frank, impressionist art gives one of the highest returns on investment and is one of the most popular forms among billionaires.
While his most historic art deals with Glimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer I, a lot of his gems are displayed in the Neue Galerie. In fact, Lauder co-founded the gallery with Sabarsky in 2001. However, his personal collection, ‘The Ronald S Lauder Exhibition’, with nearly 500 pieces, remains protected and has never been on public display.
Who is Ronald Lauder?
Ronald Lauder is the Chairman Emeritus of Estée Lauder, one of the biggest beauty names in the industry. The billionaire businessman is famously known as a philanthropist and art collector, known to honour his Jewish roots through his work.
Father-in-law of the next Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warch, Lauder shares close ties with US President Trump and is one of the top financial backers of MAGA Inc, reported the Financial Times. In the past few years, he has also been in the headlines for appearing in the Epstein Files and supporting Israel, leading to pro-Palestine protestors demonstrating at the Museum of Modern Art, where he is also an honorary chairman.
Leonard Lauder, his brother, is also a known art collector. During his close affiliation with the Met, he donated a collection of 78 Cubist works by artists including Picasso, Braque, Gris and Léger.
