Cultural San Francisco: Museums

If there’s anything that’s San Francisco’s known for, it’s its culture. Diverse, eclectic, contrasting and complementary, the cultural scene in the City by the Bay is rich and endlessly diverting. A stone’s throw away from one’s San Francisco, CA luxury home, an array of museums, galleries and exhibition spaces awaits.

From high art, natural science and history to kitsch, the offbeat and the simply bizarre, there’s something in the city for every mood and taste. Among its more well-known museums are the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and the California Academy of Sciences. And since San Francisco isn’t that big a city, all of these are within easy access of a San Francisco, CA luxury home.

The SFMOMA building itself, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, is as innovative as the modern and contemporary art that it houses. Among the artists represented in its collection – which is one of the most important in the country – are Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Marcel Duchamp, Richard Diebenkorn, Ansel Adams, Paul Klee, Diego Rivera, Frieda Kahlo and Andy Warhol.

Like the SFMOMA, the de Young is also a landmark museum. Its new, copper-colored facility, designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron along with San Francisco’s own Fong & Chan Architects, contains collections of 17-20th century American art as well as Pacific Island and African art.

The Legion of Honor also displays fine art, most of which is European and, in particular, French. Not to be missed is their collection of Rodin’s sculptures. The Asian Art Museum, as its name implies, exhibits Asian art and has one of the largest and most significant collections of it in the West. The California Academy of Sciences, located within Golden Gate Park, is one of the world’s ten biggest natural history museums and includes, among other things, the Steinhart Aquarium and the Morrison Planetarium.

Among some of San Francisco’s other museums are the Cartoon Art Musuem, the Museum of the African Diaspora and the Museum of Craft & Folk Art. Zanier exhibits can be seen at museums like the Musée Mécanique, which features penny arcade machines, and the Tattoo Art Museum.

For more information on San Francisco CA Realty art and culture as well as the fine art of selling or acquiring a San Francisco, CA luxury home, do give David Gowan a call at (415) 229-1295 or send an e-mail to david@davidgowan.com.