San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is the West Coast's premier institution for modern and contemporary art and one of the most visited art museums in the United States, with a collection of more than 35,000 works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, media arts, and design from the early 20th century to the present. Founded in 1935 as the first museum on the West Coast dedicated exclusively to modern art, SFMOMA relocated to its current building in the South of Market neighborhood in 1995 and underwent a major expansion in 2016 that tripled its gallery space and made it one of the largest modern art museums in the world.

The collection's particular strengths reflect the Bay Area's creative culture: the photography collection is one of the most significant in any museum in the world, with outstanding holdings in Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, and the generations of photographers they influenced. The painting collection is strongest in Abstract Expressionism, Bay Area Figurative work, and the international movements of the mid-20th century. The design collection is exceptional, reflecting San Francisco's position at the center of digital culture and the ongoing conversation between art and technology that has characterized the Bay Area since the 1970s. The Pritzker Center for Photography is the largest photography center in any art museum in the United States.

The museum's temporary exhibition program regularly brings major retrospectives of international importance to San Francisco, making SFMOMA a primary destination for collectors and art travelers engaging with the canonical figures of 20th and 21st century art. The rooftop garden and the Haas Family Terrace provide outdoor space for sculpture and events in a museum context unusual for its openness to the city around it. Free admission on the first Thursday evening of each month makes SFMOMA accessible to the full range of San Francisco's famously diverse public. For art travelers exploring the Southwest's western edge, SFMOMA is the essential northern California stop.