“There was no good reason to rename it,” Director Daniel Weiss told Hyperallergic about the museum’s decision to backpedal on a controversial new name.
Rhea Nayyar
February 4, 2026
— 2 min read
Another lesson in “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” (edit Rhea Nayyar/Hyperallergic)
The Philadelphia Art Museum, no, hold on ... Scratch that! The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) confirmed that it has reverted to its original name as of today, February 4, just five months after its polarizing rebrand. The move comes two weeks after Paul Dien, the former chief marketing officer who oversaw the museum's identity shift, announced his resignation.
Following Dien's exit, newly appointed museum Director and CEO Daniel Weiss announced that he had assembled a task force to survey whether the new title, Philadelphia Art Museum (PhAM), was resonating with various constituents.
A majority of respondents, including museum trustees, staff, members, and local residents, were not pleased with the change. Taking the survey results into account, the museum board unanimously voted to revert back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a title that the institution carried for 87 years until October 2025.
In a phone call with Hyperallergic, Weiss explained that trustee and staff responses to museum renaming were “overwhelmingly negative,” while members were mostly confused about the purpose of the new identity and disliked the changed URL (visitpham.org), among other brand assets.
“It's not a bad thing to refresh your brand every once in a while — every institution does it,” Weiss said. But ultimately, he noted, it came down to the question of “why would you rename an organization that has a great and eminent position in the world?”
“There was no good reason to rename it, and in the end, I think the fundamental logic that went into that decision didn't withstand scrutiny or deeper analysis,” Weiss continued, noting that people are pleased with and proud of the “Philadelphia Museum of Art” title.
It's not a total rejection of the new rebrand, though. The museum will be retaining the updated griffin logo, Weiss told Hyperallergic, noting that the griffin symbol is part of the museum's history and that it had been generally well-received in the survey.
The PMA expects to quickly revert to its “philamuseum” URL and social media handle, and will update its griffin logo and wordmark to reflect the original name.
This latest installment of news at the PMA comes amid an ongoing legal debacle between the museum and its former director and CEO, Sasha Suda, who was ousted last November by the board and has since filed a complaint alleging wrongful termination. The museum responded with allegations that Suda had misappropriated funds to increase her own salary in a petition to compel arbitration.
In an October 2025 interview with WHYY News, Suda said the renaming, which rolled out less than a month before her ouster, was an official acknowledgment of how locals and visitors colloquially referred to the museum.
