MoMA Acquires Original Emojis for Collection

Hearts and snowmen will now be on display at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), sitting alongside the renowned works of artists like Picasso and Van Gogh.

MoMA acquired the original set of emojis, released by Japanese phone company NTT DoCoMo in 1999, which contains 176 icons. The 12 by 12 pixel images have been copied, but only became a global phenomenon ubiquitously used in text communication when Apple released its version on the iPhone in 2011.

Beginning in December, the original set will be on display in the New York museum, with both printed and animated designs.

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