As one of the world’s largest collections of Asian art, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco was founded through the generosity of Avery Brundage in an effort to promote Asian and American cultural understanding. The museum holds a massive collection of more than 17,000 pieces, which cover 6,000 years of history. A prime example is its gilt bronze Buddha, dating all the way to 338 A.D.—the oldest known dated …more…
San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley, California
San Francisco/Oakland/Berkeley: Art Museums
San Francisco Art Museums: Art Museums Around San Francisco
Below are our San Francisco Art Museum recommendations, with information on location, admission, transportation/parking, museum history and other points of interest in San Francisco Art.
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA)
The Berkeley Art Museum opened on the campus of UC Berkeley in 1970. The fine arts portion of the institution was established with a donation of 45 paintings from artist and teacher Hans Hofmann; today, its collection numbers more than 16,000 objects and 14,000 films and videos. ...more...
California Palace of the Legion of Honor (The Legion)
The Palace of the Legion of Honor is a three-quarter-scale replica of the 18th-century building of the same name (the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur) in Paris. This version was built in 1924 to commemorate California soldiers who died in WWI. Its site is known as Land’s End, located in Lincoln Park and overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge, …more…
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
The de Young Museum has been a part of Golden Gate Park—and San Francisco’s cultural make-up—since 1895. Inside you’ll find collections of American art from the 17th through the 20th centuries, along with art of the native Americas, Africa, and the Pacific. Largely due to the acquisition of the Rockefeller Collection of American Art, the de Young’s collection of …more…
Oakland Museum of California
This museum opened 40 years ago with works of fine art, history, and the sciences represented in its holdings. Today it has more than 1.8 million items across the fields of fine art, artifacts, ethnographic objects, natural specimens, and photographs. It has also grown since its opening, and since a major expansion in the Spring of 2010 is housed in …more…
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (referred to as SFMOMA by locals) was the first museum on the West Coast to be devoted entirely to 20th-century art. Opened in 1935, it wasn’t until 40 years later that the museum added “Modern” to its title, which described the collection more accurately and established it internationally as an important collection of …more…
Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
The Wattis Institute is affiliated with the California College of the Arts, and serves as a center for artistic dialogue and experimentation, and interface between the College and the community of San Francisco. Its activities take place primarily in the Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries on CCA’s San Francisco campus, as well as the school’s Timken Lecture Hall. An active …more…
