[8] The location opened in March 2016 following a year and a half of preparations as part of a $600 million Metropolitan Museum of Art renovation plan.

[11] The Met has an eight-year lease on the building from the Whitney Museum, with the option to renew another five and a half years, until approximately 2029.

[17] The opening featured a survey of Nasreen Mohamedi and "Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible",[18] an exhibit of incomplete works that ranged over 500 years, from Italian Renaissance to contemporary paintings.

[7][23][24] The closure was a priority of incoming Met director Max Hollein, as it had an expensive lease, low attendance, and mixed reviews.

[26] In June 2020, it was announced that the Met Breuer would close permanently, with the Frick Collection occupying the building, as planned.

[6] The building subsequently reopened as the Frick Madison on March 18, 2021 [27] But the Met is huge and old, with a history of treating contemporary art as an afterthought.