Artpoints visits
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The entrance to SFMOMA.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is located conveniently on Third Street downtown across the street from the Moscone Convention center and within easy walking distance (two or three blocks) from the BART (San Francisco’s Underground Transit) Stations on nearby Market Street. Market Street is also the downtown terminal for the famous San Francisco Cable Car that will transport you in historical style to China Town and Fisherman’s Wharf.
The recommendation is never take a car into San Francisco and if you must because of your hotel, leave the car at the hotel and take public transportation every where you need to go, San Francisco transit is clean, efficient and, in many cases, entertaining.
The museum is simply a store front on a busy street, the central entrance in for the museum and there are also two additional entrances on the street, one for the Cafeé Museo the museum’s café and the other for the very large gift store.
The reception area of SFMOMA.
The SFMOMA cafe.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) could better be named the Museum of Avant Garde 20th and 21st century art. The collection begins on the second floor with art created before and during the First World War. As one moves up floor by floor the works become more contemporary until at the top floor one is presented with the current installation.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) could better be named the Museum of Avant Garde 20th and 21st century art. The collection begins on the second floor with art created before and during the First World War. As one moves up floor by floor the works become more contemporary until at the top floor one is presented with the current installation.
The works on the second floor include Matisse, non-representational work by Picasso, Braque, Kadinsky, Mondrian and van Doesburg. I was personally delighted to find Duchamp’s “Fountain”, called by the British newspaper “The Guardian” the most influential work of art of the 20th Century. This particular “Fountain” was the fourth created by Duchanp after the original was lost.
Click on each thumbnail to see the full picture.
Hover over the upper right edge of each photo to advance, hover over the left edge to go back.
Also on this floor is an entire gallery dedicated to Paul Klee based on his “Pedagogical Sketchbook”. This work by Klee is more representational and has a darker palette than the Klee work in other galleries I have visited.
Moving to the next floor up the museum introduces the visitor to Abstract Expressionism, an example from Jackson Pollock’s pre-drip painting work from 1943 and a gallery dedicated to the work of the work of Clyfford Still. Other iconic artists from this later period include Georgia O’Keefe, Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo - all non-Abstract artists and not so unremittingly modernist. Other artists of the ’50’ s and ‘60’s are represented here but for me, this being San Francisco, I was very impressed to find “Love” by Robert Indiana, painted in 1967 this work was widely reproduced to become one of the most famous images from San Francisco in the 1960’s.
The forth floor is dedicated to the art of the 21st Century, interactive, video installations, digital, conceptual and the fifth floor had a temporary installation of the sculptural work of Martin Puryear.
For a fan of modernism and the Avant Garde, the SFMOMA should be a fascinating visit, the entire museum is structured to provide a history and survey of the Modernist sensibility as it developed from the beginning of the 20th century until today. The museum itself is at the vanguard of the digital age by sponsoring a virtual museum on the web. Community outreach is emphasized and includes Thursday’s “Free beer” night with discussions lead by artist Tom Marioni and yes, there is actually free beer.
The café is fairly ordinary with Italian food such as pizza and panini’s, in a city like San Francisco where so much fabulous food is available I would recommend eating elsewhere, a little Italian restaurant nearby called Pazzia I strongly recommend.
The SFMOMA gift store is very large and comprehensive with a tremendous inventory of books on Modernism and modern art.
The SFMOMA website
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 151 Third Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
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