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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 357-4000

Hours: M-Su 11-6
W Closed

Admission: $8 Adults
$5 Seniors (62+)
$4 Students with ID
FREE Members and Children under 12

Special Exhibitions may require additional admission
Museum emphasis: International painting, lithographs, and photography.

Website:
http://www.sfmoma.org

Last update: 24 Feb 99
Last visit: Jan 99

Building Exterior
Building Exterior

I've made several trips to San Francisco and gone by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art several times but,never had the time to go in. In January of this year I finally had the right circumstances to see the inside of the building. It seems that the time in waiting was just right because this first visit combined several factors to make for a very good time.

It had rained most of the weekend I was in San Francisco, but the Sunday I went to the museum the sky cleared and covered the building in sunlight. The sunlight brought out a lot of the nice architectural features of the building itself.The main center structure is a cylinder. The top of this structure is windowed, letting the light from the outside shower the inner
Motherwell
Robert Motherwell
Elegy to the Spanish Republic
Courtesy SFMOMA
galleries. The top of the cylinder also features a metal walkway from one side to the other and stairways running around the sides. This area had the feel of a modern style castle tower. Artwork was not on display here but was not needed. The building's design featured window cutaways which showed unique views on the galleries or the park opposite the museum, and in many cases chances to observe other visitors to the museum.

The building itself is an interesting attraction and worth seeing.

In addition to the weather, the day of my visit the museum featured two very nice exhibitions. The first featured Richard Diebenkorn.

This was my first exposure to his work and I liked the pieces I saw very much. On display were some impressionistic pieces and some abstract canvases and other media. I thought the color schemes were more effective in the still life scenes than in the abstract pieces I saw. However, I did like the abstract works.

Along with the Diebenkorn show was the last day of an exhibition on the work of Alexander Calder. This show was exceptional. Unknowingly, I have seen a lot of this artist's sculptures in Los Angeles. This show finally put a face and a style to link everything that I had seen before. This show featured models of his large outdoor sculptures, intricate small pieces, sketches, drawings and paintings. The level of creativity was amazing. I was impressed by nearly everything on display and now I can recognize Calder's work in and around my city.

SFMOMA's permanent collection features some big names who's canvases are shown here but the main emphasis in the museum was the exhibitions and to be honest I didn't retain to much from what was on display from the museum's collection.
Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Scanning
Courtesy SFMOMA
Mondrian
Peit Mondrian
Composition No. III with Red, Yellow, and Blue
Courtesy SFMOMA

I did find some good information on the coming shows to SFMOMA and the relevant ticket information but not too much to describe the pieces you might see on a consistent basis if you happened to drop by the museum.

I had a very good time at this facility. As I said a trip to admire the architecture is reason enough to visit. The museum's selection of exhibitions also makes the choice an easy one.

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