San Diego Museum of Art

On February 28, 1926, the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) debuted as the Museum of Fine Arts. The building was given to the city of San Diego by the founders. Balboa Park is home to the museum. The architect William Templeton Johnson 1 created the museum, which was influenced by the Plateresque front of the University of Salamanca 2 in Spain.

The Museum's holdings are comprehensive, including pieces dating from 5000 B.C. C. to 2001 AD C. The museum's major draw is the Spanish paintings of Murillo, Zurbarán, Ribera, and El Greco. There's a tiny eclectic gallery of Asian art, a few of Impressionist-era paintings, some Georgia O'Keeffe (though they aren't constantly on display), and an exhibition of Japanese prints.

Another important collection is that of Latin American art, which includes works by Fernando Botero, Armando Reverón, and Diego Rivera. The museum also has paintings by Italian masters Giorgione, Giotto, Veronese, Luini, Pittoni, and Canaletto. The Northern European School is represented by works by Rubens, Hals, and Van Dyck.

The museum presents visiting exhibitions on a regular basis and has lately begun showing its usual collection of innovative approaches (including an upstairs gallery where information that can be gleaned by looking at the back of a canvas is discussed). The museum was created in a plateresque style by architects William Templeton Johnson and Robert W. Snyder to complement existing structures from the Panama-California Exposition of 1915. A richly ornate door inspired by an entryway at the University of Salamanca dominates the façade. The outside design of the museum was also influenced by the Cathedral of Valladolid, while the interior elements were inspired by the Santa Cruz Hospital in Toledo, Spain. The original building took two years to complete. When the building was finished, its sponsor, Appleton S. Bridges, donated it to the City of San Diego. The museum expanded its display area by adding a west wing and a sculpture court in 1966, and an east wing in 1974. The rotunda, sculpture garden, façade, auditorium, and other elements are being renovated.

The Museum's collections are encyclopaedic, with items dating from 5000 BC to 2012 AD. The museum's strength is in pieces by Murillo, Zurbarán, Cotán, Ribera, and El Greco from Spain. Sisters Anne, Amy, and Irene Putnam contributed much of the museum's old master collection. The museum's first big acquisition was Francisco Goya's El Marques de Sofraga, which had previously been in a private family collection and had never been on public display. The Putnam sisters contributed funds to the acquisition. The next year, director Reginald Poland purchased a Giovanni Bellini picture for the museum's collection. The museum then bought a Diego Velázquez picture of Spain's Infanta Margarita in 1941. The museum then bought a Diego Velázquez picture of Spain's Infanta Margarita in 1941, which was probably a sketch for a grander portrait of her in Vienna. Archer M. Huntington and Mr. and Mrs. Henry Timken, whose tiny art collection is housed at the neighbouring Timken Museum of Art, established in 1965, were also key supporters throughout the museum's first quarter century. Vance E. Kondon and his wife Elisabeth Giesberger donated 48 German Expressionist paintings, sketches, and prints by a variety of artists, including Otto Dix, Egon Schiele, Alexej von Jawlensky, Gabriele Münter, and Gustav Klimt, to the Museum of Art in 2012.

The museum holds travelling exhibits on a regular basis and has recently been attempting to showcase its conventional collection in novel ways, such as an upstairs gallery explaining information that can be gleaned by glancing on the back of the painting. The Summer Salon Series was launched in 2010 by the San Diego Museum of Art in collaboration with the Agitprop gallery. Alexander Jarman and David White organised the programme, which featured local emerging artists who exhibited and performed temporary art pieces and workshops in response to the Toulouse-Lautrec show. Each of the 10 shows included contemporary artists' reactions to the museum's collection of modern art.

Since 1981, the Museum has held its annual fundraiser, "Art Alive," every April. Floral designers interpret a piece of art from the Museum's permanent collection using flowers and other organic elements. The final artworks are shown alongside the art piece that inspired them for four days. The museum also conducts events like "Art after Dark."