Adventure. Battles. Romance. Epic Tales from Ancient India features more than 90 works of art from the Museum’s world-renowned Edwin Binney 3rd Collection of Indian paintings. Introducing viewers to paintings of India and its subcontinent, these works are seen through larger-than-life narratives based on classical literature of the region. Indian paintings are usually admired as individual works of art, but…

“[Gjon Mili] could capture on one negative more grace and beauty than Hollywood cameramen get on many feet of motion-picture film.” – Life magazine, Dec 28, 1942   Motion Pictures explores the various ways the innovative photographer Gjon Mili studied, interpreted, and suspended motion in 35 gelatin silver prints, and features a continuous screening of the artist’s Academy Award-nominated film…

September 13, 2017

Frida and Me

A Children’s Exhibition About Frida Kahlo Making its debut in the United States, Frida and Me is an interactive experience. In a playful circuit that can be followed in any order, a series of fun activity stations immerses children and their families in the life and work of the celebrated twentieth-century artist Frida Kahlo. An iconic figure in modern Mexican…

September 13, 2017

Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold

Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold is the first major solo museum exhibition to showcase the art and alchemy of New York-based Nancy Lorenz. Having trained in the conservation of Japanese decorative arts, Lorenz continues to employ traditional lacquering and gilding techniques as points of departure in her studio practice. This collaboration with the Museum will feature new works by the artist…

The San Diego Museum of Art celebrates the multifaceted history of Latin American modernism with an exhibition drawn from one of the world’s foremost private collections. Modern Masters from Latin America: The Pérez Simón Collection charts a trajectory from the late 1800s to the first decade of this century, showcasing the work of seminal figures from countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia,…

July 3, 2017

Views of Balboa Park

While Monet’s sensational water lilies and landscapes are featured in Reflections on Monet, this display highlights a few of the leading artists who have painted outdoors here in Balboa Park. The availability of oil paint in tubes from 1841 replaced the necessity of pig bladders and glass to transport paint, and enabled artists to leave their studios and paint in…

Located off the northern coast of Australia, Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern half of New Guinea, the second largest island in the world. It is a country of abounding variety, in both its geography and culture. A wide range of unique flora and fauna populate landscapes that include coastal swamps, dense jungles, and a rugged mountainous interior. As one…

June 5, 2017

Genre and Myth

1550 – 1850 This gallery highlights secular works of art, from “genre” paintings featuring scenes of daily life—including landscape, still life, and interiors—to historical subjects such as mythology and classical antiquity. While not religious in nature, many of these works have underlying symbolic and moralizing themes. Around 1600, a dramatic shift began to take place in European painting. It was…

June 5, 2017

Art of the Portrait

Portraiture is a complex art form. On its surface, it presents a likeness of its subject, yet embedded in these renderings are the relationships between the subject and the artist as well as the various functions a portrait serves: including family memento, signal of social status, and a means of self-expression. As the portraits in this gallery attest, more recently,…

June 5, 2017

Art of Devotion

European Art 1300–1800 In the Early Medieval era to the Renaissance and Baroque eras, a large part of artistic production in Europe was commissioned by the Catholic Church or by wealthy aristocratic and royal patrons. Religious institutions hired artists and architects to build and decorate places of worship, from cathedrals to monasteries and hospitals. In the north, Martin Luther’s Reformation…