Tours

Museum docents are available to present tours of the permanent collection and special exhibitions to adults, children, and special-interest groups. We offer 30-minute highlights tours, which focus on approximately 10 objects in the Museum, or one-hour tours on a specific theme or exhibition. All tours involving children require one adult chaperone for every ten children in attendance.

One-hour tours are scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Thursday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m.; Fridays at 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. available on 5th Friday of the month only); Saturday at 11 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. Tours in Spanish and other languages are available upon request. No tours are available on Wednesdays or on the third Tuesday of the month. 

• Daily Public Tours
• School Tours and Group Visits
• Tours in Several Languages
• Tours in American Sign Language for visitors who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
• Children’s Workshop
• In-School PowerPoint Presentations (Grades 1-12)

Daily Public Tours

Free after Museum admission. 

May Schedule:

School Tours

Docents provide guided tours for students in grades K-12 and college of the Museum’s permanent collection and special exhibitions. Tours include discussions as well as demonstrations of techniques and materials used by the artists. School tours fulfill the standards of the California State Framework for the Visual Arts: Artistic Perception, Creative Expression, Historical and Cultural Context, and Aesthetic Valuing.

Docent offer tours on these topics:

• American Art
• East Asian Art
• Baroque Art
• Customized Tour (per teacher’s specifications)
• European (19th- and 20th-Century)
• Modern & Contemporary Art
• Palace, Temple, Mosque (Southern Asian & Persian Art)
• Museum Highlights
• Renaissance Art *
• Sculpture Court
• Special Exhibitions
  • Pacific Horizons
  • Alternative Accounts
  • Piranesi, Rome, and the Arts of Design
  • Young Art 2013: The Story of Me

The Renaissance Art Cart can be incorporated into the one-hour Renaissance Art tour (30-minute Renaissance tour and 30-minute Art Cart demonstration) or may be scheduled as a 30-minute separate presentation. The Renaissance Art Cart contains a collection of objects that demonstrate Renaissance art techniques and materials such as fresco painting, gold-leaf application, preparation of colors with pigment, and panel painting.

One-hour tours are scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Thursday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m.; Fridays at 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. available on 5th Friday of the month only); Saturday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. No tours are available on the third Tuesday of the month, when Museum admission is free.

Docent-led tours must be scheduled online at least three weeks in advance. 

Schedule a Docent-led tour

Group Visits

Museum docents are available to present tours of the permanent collection and special exhibitions to adults, children, and special-interest groups. We offer 45-minute highlights tours, which focus on approximately 10 objects in the Museum, or one-hour tours on a specific theme or exhibition. All tours involving children require one adult chaperone for every ten children in attendance.

One-hour tours are scheduled Monday, Tuesday, Thursday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m.; Fridays at 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. available on 5th Friday of the month only); Saturday at 10:00 a.m.,11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.; and Sundays at 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.

Tours in Spanish and other languages are available upon request. No tours are available on the third Tuesday of the month, when Museum admission is free. Please call (619) 696-1935 or email the group sales office.

Tours in Several Languages

Upon special request, docent-led tours for adults and children are available in Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Russian, and Dutch.

Please see tour selection and language request.

Tours in American Sign Language for visitors who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

Tours in American Sign Language are avaiable for visitors who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Please contact Ruth Broudy at rbroudy@sdmart.org to reserve an ASL tour.

This program offers students in grades 1 through 6 the opportunity to have practical art experience guided by the Museum’s volunteer docents. The two-hour session combines art education with an interactive gallery tour and creative art project, which fulfills the second standard of the California State Framework for the Visual Arts: Creative Expression.

Four workshops – The Investigative Eye, Stories in Art, City to Landscapes, and Faces, – for a maximum of 30 students each are offered weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., October through May. 

Workshops must be scheduled online at least three weeks in advance.

Schedule a Children's Workshop

Cancel a Children's Workshop

In-School PowerPoint Presentations (Grades 1-12)

Presentations in the classroom are available by Museum docents for students in grades 1 through 12 to serve as an introduction to the Museum’s art collection. Programs are designed as an introduction and should be followed by a Museum visit. Each program is designed to fulfill the academic content standards for Visual and Performing Arts. Teachers may choose from the following presentations:

• Hey Look!: Increases students' understanding of art by teaching them how to look at a variety of artworks.
• Oh, California!: Illustrates the history of California through artworks from the Museum’s collection. 
• Made in America: Traces the history of America through its art.
• Nature in the Art of Asia: Explores animals and plants, as well as Buddhist, Shinto, and Hindu themes in the Museum’s Asian art collection 

Receive more information on In-School PowerPoint Presentations or schedule an on-line request