SFMOMA

It's been multiple decades since I visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).  In the 1980's, I used to have the "out of town" membership to the museum and would visit frequently.

The years passed and my activities moved on to other things but my interest in contemporary art has been rekindled with the expansion and decided to renew my membership.

SFMOMA officially reopens to the public on May 14th but as a member, one is entitled to a member's only preview before the grand opening.  We went on the 2nd day of the pre-view period and nearly had the museum to ourselves.

I invited Eric Saur to join me on a pre-view excursion to The City and we took my favorite means of traveling to the Bay Area - by public transit - the Capitol Corridor Train and BART.  We took the train to the Richmond Station and transferred to BART which zipped us within two blocks of MOMA at the Montgomery Street Station.

Brief history of SFMOMA:  The museum was established in 1935 and in its first 60 years occupied the 4th floor of the War Memorial Veterans Building at the Civic Center on Van Ness Ave.  It was the first institution on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th Century art.

In 1995, a new 50,000 s.f. museum building with its iconic striped cylinder and step-backed stone facade designed by Mario Botta opened across the street from the Yerba Buena Gardens.

In 2013, the museum closed for 2 1/2 years for a 235,000 s.f. expansion.  The seven-story addition was designed by the Norwegian architectural firm of SNOHETTA.

To view the photo album of our visit, click on "SFMOMA' below photo:

From SFMOMA