View source for The San Diego Museum of Art

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox museum
| name            = The San Diego Museum of Art
| native_name     =
| native_name_lang =
| logo            =
| logo_upright    =
| logo_alt        =
| logo_caption    =
| image           = San Diego Museum of Art 02.jpg
| image_upright   =
| alt             =
| caption         = The museum's Façade
| map_type        = United States San Diego
| map_relief      =
| map_size        =
| map_caption     =
| coordinates     = {{Coord|32.7322|-117.1505|type:landmark_region:US-CA|display=inline,title}}
| former_name     =
| established     = {{Start date|1926|df=y}} <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} -->
| dissolved       = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} -->
| location        = 1450 El Prado in [[Balboa Park (San Diego)|Balboa Park]], [[San Diego]], [[California]], [[US]]
| type            = [[Art Museum]]
| accreditation   =
| key_holdings    =
| collections     =
| collection_size =
| visitors        =
| founder         =
| director        =
| president       =
| ceo             =
| chairperson     =
| curator         =
| architect       =
| historian       =
| owner           =
| publictransit   =
| car_park        =
| parking         =
| network         =
| website         = [http://www.sdmart.org/ sdmart.org] <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| embedded        =
}}
[[File:Inside the San Diego Museum of Art.jpg|thumb|300x300px| The main stairway of the San Diego Museum of Art, 2024.]]
[[File:Aluminum Horse.jpg|thumb|Aluminum Horse By Deborah Butterfield. Taken at the Museum of Art, Balboa Park, 2024. ]]
'''The''' '''San Diego Museum of Art''' is a fine arts museum in [[Balboa Park, San Diego, California|Balboa Park]] in [[San Diego, California]], that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. It opened as '''the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego''' on February 28, 1926, and changed to its current name in 1978.<ref name="Davenport">{{cite book |last1=Davenport |first1=William  |title=Fine Art Treasures in the West|url=https://archive.org/details/arttreasuresinwe00dave |url-access=registration |year=1966|publisher=Lane Magazine & Book Company|location=Menlo Park, California|pages=[https://archive.org/details/arttreasuresinwe00dave/page/27 27–31]}}</ref><ref name="Museum">{{cite web|url=http://www.sdmart.org/info-history.html |title=History of SDMA |publisher=San Diego Museum of Art |access-date=February 22, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102063301/http://www.sdmart.org/info-history.html |archive-date=January 2, 2010 }}</ref> The official Balboa Park website calls it "the region's oldest and largest art museum".<ref name="Balboa">{{cite web|url=http://www.balboapark.org/in-the-park/detail.php?OrgID=19|title=The San Diego Museum of Art|publisher=Balboa Park|access-date=February 22, 2010|archive-date=March 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100316203713/http://www.balboapark.org/in-the-park/detail.php?OrgID=19|url-status=live}}</ref> Nearly half a million people visit the museum each year.<ref name="Visitors">{{cite web|url=http://www.sandiego.org/listing/Visitors/2995|title=San Diego Museum of Art|publisher=San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau|access-date=February 22, 2010|archive-date=June 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620192129/http://www.sandiego.org/listing/Visitors/2995|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Structure==
The museum building was designed by architects [[William Templeton Johnson]] and [[Robert W. Snyder]] in a [[plateresque]] style to harmonize with existing structures from the [[Panama–California Exposition (1915)|Panama–California Exposition of 1915]].<ref name="Davenport" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/johnson/johnson.htm|title=William Templeton Johnson|publisher=San Diego Historical Society|access-date=October 4, 2007|archive-date=June 7, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090607030500/http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/johnson/johnson.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The dominant feature of the façade is a heavily ornamented door inspired by a doorway at the [[University of Salamanca]].<ref name="Davenport" /> The [[Cathedral of Valladolid]] also influenced the museum's exterior design, and the architects derived interior motifs from the Santa Cruz Hospital of [[Toledo, Spain]].<ref name="Museum" /> The original construction took two years.<ref name="Museum"/> Sponsor [[Appleton S. Bridges]] donated the building to the [[City of San Diego]] upon its completion.<ref name="Museum"/> In 1966 the museum added a west wing and a sculpture court which doubled its size, and an east wing in 1974 further increased its exhibition space.<ref name="Davenport" /><ref name="Museum"/> Plans are underway for a renovation to the rotunda, sculpture garden, façade, auditorium, and other features.<ref name="Museum"/>
==Collections==
The museum's collections are encyclopedic in nature, with pieces ranging in date from 5000 BC to 2012 AD. The museum's strength is in Spanish works by [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo|Murillo]], [[Zurbarán]], [[Juan Sánchez Cotán|Cotán]], [[José Ribera|Ribera]] and [[El Greco]]. Much of the museum's old master collection was donated by sisters Anne, Amy, and Irene Putnam.<ref name="Davenport" /> The museum's first major acquisition was the 1939 purchase of [[Francisco Goya]]'s ''El Marques de Sofraga'', which had belonged to a private family collection until that time and had never before been on public exhibition.<ref name="Davenport" /> The Putnam sisters provided financial backing for the purchase.<ref name="Davenport" /> The following year, director Reginald Poland acquired a portrait by [[Giovanni Bellini]] for the museum's collection.<ref name="Davenport" /> Then in 1941 the museum purchased a [[Diego Velázquez]] portrait of the Infanta Margarita of Spain, which was possibly a study for a larger portrait of her in [[Vienna]].<ref name="Davenport" /> Other major benefactors during the museum's first quarter century were Archer M. Huntington and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Timken,<ref name="Museum" /> whose small art collection is housed in the nearby [[Timken Museum of Art]], established in 1965. In 2012, the Museum of Art received 48 German Expressionist paintings, drawings and prints from a range of artists, including [[Otto Dix]], [[Egon Schiele]], [[Alexej von Jawlensky]], [[Gabriele Münter]] and [[Gustav Klimt]] from the collection of Vance E. Kondon and his wife Elisabeth Giesberger.<ref>Jamie Wetherbe (March 23, 2012), [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/san-diego-museums-gifted-40-million-art-collection.html San Diego museums receive $40-million art collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416163812/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/san-diego-museums-gifted-40-million-art-collection.html |date=April 16, 2012 }} ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''.</ref>
The museum houses works by Italian masters [[Giorgione]], [[Giambattista Pittoni]], [[Giotto]], [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]], [[Luini]] and [[Canaletto]]. Works by [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]], [[Frans Hals|Hals]] and [[van Dyck]] represent the [[Northern European]] School. The museum regularly hosts touring exhibits and has lately been working to display its standard collection in new ways, including an upstairs gallery discussing information which can be gathered by looking on the back of the canvas. The exhibition is complemented with a large collection of images, including portraits, Arnold Newman's work, and Mexican landscapes from the early twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=San Diego Museum of Art |url=https://infoblogscat.blogspot.com/2022/09/san-diego-museum-of-art.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927101950/https://infoblogscat.blogspot.com/2022/09/san-diego-museum-of-art.html |archive-date=2022-09-27  |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=infoblogscat.blogspot.com|date=September 27, 2022 }}</ref>
==Collection highlights==
<gallery>
File:Hieronymus Bosch Workshop (1450-1516) - The arrest of Christ (1515 ca.) - SDMA San Diego Museum of Art.jpg|Workshop of [[Hieronymus Bosch]], ''The Arrest of Christ'', c. 1515, oil on panel
File:Sánchez Cotán (Bodegón con membrillo, repollo, melón y pepino).jpg|[[Juan Sánchez Cotán]], 1602, ''[[Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber|Quince, Cabbage, Melon, and Cucumber]]''
File:Aeneas and his Father Fleeing Troy by Simon Vouet, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG|[[Simon Vouet]], c. 1635, ''Aeneas and his Father Fleeing Troy''
File:The Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua painting by Giovanni Battista Pittoni, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG|[[Giambattista Pittoni]], 1730, ''The Vision of Saint Anthony of Padua'', oil on Canvas, 35 1/2 in. x 23 1/4 in.
File:An Afternoon Stroll by William Merritt Chase, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG|[[William Merritt Chase]], c. 1895, ''An Afternoon Stroll''
File:Woman Combing her Hair by Renoir, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG|[[Auguste Renoir]], 1907, ''Woman Combing her Hair''''
File:Joaquin Sorolla - María en La Granja.jpg|[[Joaquin Sorolla]], 1907, ''María en La Granja''
File:Red Blossom by Alexei Jawlensky, Russia, 1910, oil on board - San Diego Museum of Art - DSC06745.JPG|[[Alexej von Jawlensky]], 1910, ''Red Blossom'', oil on board
File:Female Nude Reading by Robert Delaunay, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG|[[Robert Delaunay]], 1915, ''Female Nude Reading''
File:Henri Matisse, 1917-18, Fleurs (Bouguet), oil on canvas, 139.7 x 102.2 cm, San Diego Museum of Art.jpg|[[Henri Matisse]], 1917–18, ''Fleurs (Bouguet)'', oil on canvas, 139.7 x 102.2&nbsp;cm
File:Still-life_by_José_Agustín_Arrieta,_San_Diego_Museum_of_Art.JPG|Still-life, oil on canvas painting by José Agustín Arrieta, c. 1870, The San Diego Museum of Art
</gallery>
==Special exhibitions==
[[File:Wonders SDMA.png|thumb|Exhibit of "Parts Of Astrolabe’’ and  ‘’Manuscript Containing Treatises On Theory, Construction, And Uses Of The Astrolabe", Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World," 2024.]]
[[File:Guanyin.Sd.jpg|thumb|Bodhisattva Guanyin of the Southern Seas, 13th century, China]]
Important special exhibitions that the museum has hosted include ''[[The Precious Legacy]]'' (1984).<ref name="DamskerMagnitude">{{cite news |last1=Damsker |first1=Matt |title=Heart of Czech Jewry Makes Way to S.D. How Did the Museum of Art Beat L.A. for a Show of This Magnitude? |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=19 September 1984}}</ref>
In 2024, the exhibit "Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World" features works spanning 13 centuries that show the intersection of art and science.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Combs |first=Seth |date=2024-09-01 |title=Connecting art and science: Getty Foundation brings together 70 exhibits for PST Art |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/09/01/connecting-art-and-science-getty-foundation-brings-together-60-exhibits-for-pst-art/ |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Contemporary art programming==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2018}}
In 2010, the San Diego Museum of Art in conjunction with the Agitprop gallery created The Summer Salon Series. The program, curated by Alexander Jarman and David White, featured local emerging artists who presented and performed temporary art works and workshops in direct response to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition. Each of the ten presentations involved Contemporary Artists' responses to the Modern Art on display in the museum.
==Special events==
Each April since 1981 the Museum hosts its major fundraiser, "Art Alive". Floral designers use flowers and other organic materials to express their interpretation of a work of art from the Museum's permanent collection. For four days the resulting creations are displayed next to the art work that inspired them.<ref>{{cite news |title=Art in full bloom |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=136EAF3987837A28&p_docnum=2&s_dlid=DL0111072123154205958&s_ecproduct=SUB-FREE&s_ecprodtype=INSTANT&s_trackval=&s_siteloc=&s_referrer=&s_subterm=Subscription%20until%3A%2012%2F14%2F2025%2011%3A59%20PM&s_docsbal=%20&s_subexpires=12%2F14%2F2025%2011%3A59%20PM&s_docstart=&s_docsleft=&s_docsread=&s_username=sdubsub&s_accountid=AC0110122214325408110&s_upgradeable=no |newspaper=San Diego Union Tribune |date=April 28, 2011 |access-date=July 21, 2011 |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025213940/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=136EAF3987837A28&p_docnum=2&s_dlid=DL0111072123154205958&s_ecproduct=SUB-FREE&s_ecprodtype=INSTANT&s_trackval=&s_siteloc=&s_referrer=&s_subterm=Subscription%20until:%2012%2F14%2F2025%2011:59%20PM&s_docsbal=%20&s_subexpires=12%2F14%2F2025%2011:59%20PM&s_docstart=&s_docsleft=&s_docsread=&s_username=sdubsub&s_accountid=AC0110122214325408110&s_upgradeable=no |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum also hosts events such as "Art after Hours" and "Culture and Cocktails", which encourage attendees to sample the collection into the evening during extended opening hours or partake in social events centered in the gallery.
{{Portal|California}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|San Diego Museum of Art}}
* {{oweb|http://www.sdmart.org/}} – San Diego Museum of Art
* [http://www.sdmart.org/programs-events/summer-salon-series/ Summer Salon Series, 2010]
{{Balboa Park}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:San Diego Museum of Art| ]]
[[Category:1926 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1926]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in San Diego]]
[[Category:Asian art museums in California]]
[[Category:Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in California]]
[[Category:Balboa Park (San Diego)]]