DK Travel : San Francisco : Museums & Galleries

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Photography Gallery

The Gallery of California Art also has a fine collection of the work of California photographers, including Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

Opened in 1970 this was one of the first galleries dedicated to showing the work of emerging Bay Area artists. In addition, the Gallery Slide Registry contains images by more than 500 professional artists from across the US.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The city’s stylish home for 20th-century European and American art and contemporary multimedia works is a sparkling cultural hub in the South of Market area. Its collections span the whole modern spectrum, from proto-Impressionists to cutting-edge digital installations.
Seymour Pioneer Museum

This museum has fascinating historical exhibits of 19th- and 20th-century California. The upstairs gallery displays furniture, sculpture, and paintings.
SoMarts Gallery

Group and solo shows, music, and readings are just a few of the creative goings-on you can encounter in this cavernous complex under a freeway. Founded in 1975, SoMarts is a city-owned cultural center with two exhibition spaces, a 250-seat theater, and printmaking, pottery, and design studios.
Tattoo Art Museum

“Tattooing is as ancient as time; modern as tomorrow.” So says Lyle Tuttle, master tattooist and museum proprietor. Display cases have documentation of tattooing practices and some of the equipment that is used in different parts of the world. The best show, however, is in the adjacent booth, where one of the artists may be adorning a client with one of their masterpieces.
The Building

The museum building is an outstanding example of modern design. Opened in 1969, it is composed of reinforced concrete and consists of three levels of tiered terraces. To soften the angularity, roof gardens have been planted, accented with statuary.
The Earliest Californians

The Cowell Hall of California History on the second level traces early human history in the state, documented by basketry, stone tools, clothing, and rituals.
The Legion of Honor

This museum, located above Land’s End, is one of the city’s major venues for pre-modern Western art. It is also a beautiful building in a gorgeous natural setting, so well worth the time it takes to get to. It contains mostly European works, including masterpieces by Rubens, Rembrandt, Georges de la Tour, Degas, Rodin, and Claude Monet.
Wells Fargo History Museum

The Wells Fargo stagecoaches are the stuff of legends, above all for the tales of their stalwart drivers and the robbers who held them up. Visitors can hear how it must have been to sit on little more than a buckboard for day after jostling day by listening to the recorded diary of one Francis Brocklehurst. Other exhibits include Pony Express mail, gold nuggets, photos, and Emperor Norton’s imperial currency (see Joshua Abraham Norton).