From Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec to Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot, this gallery installation traces the development of the most important avant-garde movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Primarily based on the San Diego Museum of Art’s permanent collection, other major figures represented include Eugène Boudin, Edouard Manet, and Joaquín Sorolla. American artists on display include Mary Cassatt,…

March 14, 2020–March 11, 2021 During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tales of the American West captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. For many Americans, as well as Europeans, the West helped to satisfy an appetite for the exotic. It served to counter the ever-expanding metropolises that had pervaded the United States since the onset of…

February 22, 2020–June 20, 2021 Defining what it means to be American is not an easy feat. It’s a question that has been posited since the country’s founding and the answer is not finite, but rather ever-changing and subjective. For centuries, artists have sought to capture that which is American in an attempt to define something that is largely intangible….

February 29, 2020–July 18, 2021 In Sanskrit poetry, people and elephants live harmoniously in a shared natural world, where elephants enhance the aesthetic pleasure of the landscape by augmenting almost all of the human senses. In fact, throughout the history of South Asia, elephants were valued profoundly for their might and majesty, embodying royal power and inspiring comparisons to kings…

March 14, 2020–September 6, 2021 Contemporary artist Cauleen Smith creates a new work of art–a video premiering at The San Diego Museum of Art that is inspired by one of the most important works in the Museum’s collection, Juan Sánchez Cotán’s Still Life with Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber (ca. 1602).   Looking at Sánchez Cotán “First there is the…

We are heartbroken that we must cancel Art Alive 2020. Read more here… Thank you for joining in our efforts to care for our community and we look forward to welcoming you back next year. April 24–26, 2020 From Claude Monet to masterpieces by Edgar Degas and Pierre Bonnard, this special exhibition traces the development of the most important avant-garde movements…

This exhibition celebrates the achievements of the Museum’s Education team led by Johanna Benson, in creating programs for diverse audiences, and demonstrating that art can be accessible for everyone, with benefits that range from quiet contemplation to genuinely transformative experiences. Perhaps most people are aware of the free docent tours, and that these are offered in ten languages, including American…

Multimedia artist Nick Roth’s installation Fates is a three-panel animation that draws upon classical mythology to represent the tumult of human life and the struggle to come to terms with mortality. Rendered in a semi-abstract, semi-figurative style, the three Fates—Clotho (“the spinner”), Lachesis (“the allotter”), and Atropos (“the unturnable”)—appear, dissolve, and reconstitute themselves as the ten-minute animation unfolds. Nick Roth…

Temporarily closed. This gallery highlights secular works of art, from scenes of daily life—including landscape, still life, and interiors—to historical subjects, mythology, and literature. While not religious in nature, many of these works have underlying symbolic or moralizing themes, such as Lucas Cranach’s Nymph of the Spring. Around 1600, a dramatic shift took place in European painting. It was the…