SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

SFMOMA is closed. The well-being and safety of our community and staff is our top priority. In keeping with city and county measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the museum has closed to visitors. We will reopen when we're able to do so, with extensive safety measures in place. For questions, please go to sfmoma.org/coronavirus-update. (photo: Richard Barnes)

We turned 86! The museum was founded on January 18, 1935. *Thank you* for your support, encouragement + passion over the years, and for loving art with us. [photo: Henrik Kam]

The day has arrived, we're open! Come visit us, we've missed you. SFMOMA is officially reopen to the public. Planning to visit? Share your photos with us + tell us about the reunion

In the early 1970s, Lew Thomas set out to disrupt photography in San Francisco, Donna-Lee Phillips and Hal Fischer embraced this mission. Thought Pieces: 1970s Photographs by Lew Thomas, Donna-Lee Phillips, and Hal Fischer closes at SFMOMA on Sunday, November 1. Don't miss this exhibition, which reunites the three artists' work for the first time in decades, offering an opportunity to reassess their legacy in the Bay Area, and their place in the larger history of photography: https://sfmoma.me/thoughtpieces

Happy Halloween! Have you ever seen a ghost? Throughout the history of the medium, photography has been used to access the invisible and reveal things the human eye could not see. Spirit photography was a common practice in the Victorian era. Photographers would use multiple negatives to craft the appearance of ghosts or spirits behind their sitters. For those who believed in spirits, photography acted as a medium to another world. [Spirit Photographs, assembled by Dr. Will...iam J. Pierce, 1903] #spiritphotographs #ghosts #spiritphotography #fakingit #prephotoshop See more

Sending our #CreativeKudos love to California College of the Arts for their ongoing series, Make. Act. Resist: A Teach-in on Borders and Migration. Principal of Rael San Fratello + Professor at UC Berkeley, Ron Rael will give the closing keynote lecture on Oct. 26: https://sfmoma.me/3d8fywU Coming soon in January 2021, "Drawing the Line: Rael San Fratello at the U.S.-Mexico Border", is an exhibition that covers Rael San Fratello studio's years-long project that explores the idea of a post-wall world.

"Things feel the same and it worries me. Things feel the same and it gives me hope. I’m never sure which way I’m leaning until I step outside for my walk." Adrian Martinez via Open Space, 2020. SFMOMA Photography Department Administrator Adrian Martinez (@berlinbrrr) reflects on his street photography practice before and during the pandemic in his latest piece on @openspace_sfmoma, "A Search for New Land." https://sfmoma.me/34y5cCH

"I think of paintingin fact all the artsas a sort of extension of human life." David Park. David Park had two great loves: paint and people. On view at SFMOMA, David Park: A Retrospective + David Park and His Circle: The Drawing Sessions, present Park's unending appreciation for the human figure. [#DavidPark, The Cellist, 1959; Portland Art Museum, purchased with funds given anonymously; Estate of David Park; courtesy Natalie Park Schutz, Helen Park Bigelow, and Hackett Mill, San Francisco.]

"With resilience, far too long With roots, far too deep" A new commission on view at SFMOMA as part of Bay Area Walls, in Muzae Sesay's "Cut Trees a tree presents itself and explains its history. ... Continually cut down, maimed in urban servitude, it is controlled and sculptured, almostand oftento death... New leaves show sprouts of vitality within the composition; perseverance emerging in the face of hostility." Take a closer look, Cut Trees is on view on Floor 7 of #SFMOMA: http://sfmoma.me/BayAreaWalls [#MuzaeSesay, "Cut Trees," 2020. Quotes from Muzae Sesay]

Is utopia attainable? Artist Cauleen Smith discusses her film Sojourner (2018), which explores what a feminist, Afrofuturist, and radically generous community might look like: https://sfmoma.me/3ntaOqb

Whether you're trying your hand at art for fun or teaching students via remote learning, bring art to life with the help of SFMOMA's artwork guides! Growing up in the vibrant cultural scene of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, Romare Bearden created paintings, collages, murals, album covers, book illustrations, and stage sets. Try out our artwork guide centered on the artwork of Romare Bearden: https://sfmoma.me/36Ongee

"I loaded my camera, I locked my focus, and I placed my finger over the shutter release, as Shea and Zion went to take their first sip of clean water. When the shutter released, I was overcome with a deep sense of joy and righteousness." LaToya Ruby Frazier via TED, 2019. Clean water should be a basic human right, but water rights are still in jeopardy around the world. Frazier addresses the man-made water crisis in Flint, Michigan, in her series, Flint Is Family, Part II, on view in the exhibition SOFT POWER. Revisit the series with the SOFT POWER audio guide available on our website: https://sfmoma.me/2RxgzFX

#ICYMI: On the Second Sunday of every month, SFMOMA is hosting a virtual program for families including a reading with a librarian from the San Francisco Public Library, followed by a guided art activity you can do at home. Each month will feature a different artist in SFMOMA’s collection. This month: use cut paper to make a portrait of yourself that shows off your personality! Watch the video to see what you’ll need and how you might create this project at home: https://sfmoma.me/33KU9a1

This week in Catching Up, assistant curator of painting and sculpture Jenny Gheith calls up artist Constance Hockaday to talk about her current work, Artists in Presidents. At the project’s core are presidential-style addresses delivered by 50 commissioned artists of various artistic disciplines, aesthetic styles, and personal identities. Tune into Catching Up this Thursday on our IG: instagram.com/sfmoma

Future Histories: Theaster Gates and Cauleen Smith is now on view at SFMOMA. In Future Histories: Theaster Gates and Cauleen Smith, two artists offers new perspectives on the past. Learn more: http://sfmoma.me/FutureHistories

Pick a card, any card... tarot card, that is. Photographer Bea Nettles, born #onthisday in 1946, literally dreamed up and created her series Mountain Dream Tarot, the first complete photographic tarot deck (fun fact: she recently released a Commemorative Edition!). Flip through cards like 7 of Pentacles, Ace of Cups, The High Priestess, Strength, Eight of Wands, Eight of Swords, + The Chariot, and watch Nettles discuss the making of this historic series: sfmoma.me/2AlDSvQ W...ishing you the happiest of birthdays! [#BeaNettles, Mountain Dream #Tarot, 1970-72; Bea Nettles]