At MoMA there are works on display by Francis Bacon, de Kooning, Dali , Chagall, Frida Khalo, Magritte, Cezanne, Matisse, Mondrian, Monet, Picasso, Pollock, Rousseau, Monet, Gaugin, van Gogh, Warhol, Wyeth, Rodin, Duchamp, Frank Stella, Basquiat, Helen Frankenthaler, Dorthea Lange, Hopper, Georgia O'Keefe, Bruce Nauman and many, many other great artists that you will find in an art history book. If you haven't taken the time to learn something about modern art and its practitioners, you are absolutely wasting your time visiting a modern art gallery. It's like attending a sporting event without having any idea how the game is played or what the people on the field are doing. Just because something is open to the public, doesn't mean it's for everyone.

When I visit NYC and want to visit a cultural institution with friends, I always suggest Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. You don't have to do any homework to enjoy it.