SF museum advice (San Francisco, Lincoln: loan, how much, school)

[clarksvillemom]

I have a day and need to decide: Art Institute, Modern, deYoung, or Legion of Honor. Help me decide!

[Carlite]

The Art Institute is more of an art school than a museum, though maybe they have exhibits. The Modern (SF Museum of Modern Art) is downtown and has a pretty good permanent collection of 20th Century art, especially by California artists like Diebenkorn and David Park, as well as a lot of interesting changing exhibits.

The DeYoung and the Legion of Honor are both part of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, I believe admission to one gets you into the other if you want to do that. The DeYoung is in Golden Gate Park in an area with lots of activities. It's in a very modern new building which some people love and others hate. Its strength is mostly in temporary exhibits, though there's a cool collection of Ruth Ozawa wire sculptures. Those are near the elevator to the DeYoung's observation tower, which is fun to go into. The Palace of the Legion of Honor is further out, in Lincoln Park, near the Golden Gate itself. It's a grand post-World War I building, again strongest for temporary exhibits.

If you haven't already, look at their websites, and figure out what exhibits will be up when you're going to be here.

[sirmilton]

Based on location and alternative activities nearby I would personally go to the De Young.

[beb0p]

Also depends on how much time you want to spend there. I never burn more than 3 hours in De Young or SFMOMA, but you can spend the whole day at the Asian Art Museum; I've been there two times and still haven't finished viewing all the exhibits.

[cornblitz]

de Young and Legion, no question: one ticket, two fabulous museums. The Legion is probably the most beautifully sited museum in the world, and the de Young is a beautiful building with great collections. Both world class!

[mayorhaggar]

SFMOMA is alright but kinda small and it really depends on if they have a good temporary exhibition going on...but I think they charge more for you to see them which is annoying.

[jade408]

If you in SOMA, I recommend the Cartoon Art Museum. Really fun and totally under-appreciated.

[Carlite]

Actually, I think it's more typical for the De Young and the Legion of Honor to charge for some, but not all, special exhibits. If you're a member of an art museum at home, you might want to see whether any of these museums have reciprocity with that museum, which would get you in free. Given that you've just got the day it might make sense to consider how the museum is located in relation to your other activities. I should have mentioned the Asian Art Museum, it's a world class museum in that field, located in Civic Center.

[rkwalton]

De Young or Legion. No contest.

[Natural510]

The MOMA will get better in a few years when they undergo their huge expansion by 2016, which will include hundreds of newly-donated pieces, but until then it can be passed up unless they have a special feature which interests you. I'm not a big fan of the De Young either, unless they have a special exhibition (like their Musee de Orsay loan a couple years ago), so would recommend the Legion of Honor. I haven't been to the Asian Art Museum, so I can't speak on it either way.