Nicole Eisenman: MoMA’s purchase of her work is linked to the backlash over her support for Gaza

The American artist Nicole Eisenman has said that the purchase by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York of her painting “The Auction” (2024–25) is linked to a kind of backlash, following the period when she publicly supported the Palestinian cause, as USA Art News reports, citing an interview the artist gave to the Financial Times on the occasion of her new exhibitions at the Royal Academy and at Sadie Coles HQ in London.

“The Auction” depicts the art market as a courtroom, where the artist appears behind a wooden barrier. Eisenman says the work was partly inspired by the consequences she faced after signing, in 2023, Artforum’s open letter in support of Palestinian liberation, following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. According to her, art dealers condemned the letter’s signatories and some collectors warned they would sell her works. MoMA bought the painting at the beginning of this year.

Eisenman, who is Jewish, said she was “surprised” by the purchase and suspects the museum’s board would not have accepted the work if chief curator Ann Temkin had presented it with all of its political charge — she called the purchase “a real coup.” The museum itself faced sit-in protests in 2024 by pro-Palestinian activists, over claims that board members held investments in Israeli arms manufacturers.