July 2026
Anderson Collection at Stanford University
Stanford | anderson.stanford.edu
A focused collection of modern and contemporary American art assembled by Harry and Mary Margaret Anderson over five decades. Opened in 2014, the museum holds over 700 works with particular strength in postwar painting and sculpture — Diebenkorn, de Kooning, Pollock, Kara Walker. Free admission.
Asian Art Museum
San Francisco | asianart.org
One of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art, with a permanent collection of more than 18,000 works spanning 6,000 years. Located in the former San Francisco Main Library building at Civic Center since 2003.
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)
Berkeley | bampfa.org
University art museum and cinematheque at UC Berkeley, in a purpose-built building in downtown Berkeley since 2016. The collection spans ancient to contemporary, with particular strength in Bay Area figurative painting and abstract expressionism. The Pacific Film Archive is one of the most significant film collections in the US.
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
Stanford | museum.stanford.edu
Stanford’s encyclopedic collection museum — one of the largest in the western US — spanning 5,000 years. Significant holdings in Rodin sculpture (the Rodin Sculpture Garden is on the grounds), African, Oceanic, and Americas collections. Free admission.
de Young Museum
San Francisco (Golden Gate Park) | deyoung.famsf.org
Part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). The permanent collection focuses on American art from the 17th through 21st centuries, plus art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. The 2005 Herzog & de Meuron building is an architectural landmark in Golden Gate Park.
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art
Napa (satellite space at Minnesota Street Project, SF) | dirosaart.org
Founded by René di Rosa in 1960, di Rosa’s 217-acre property in Napa holds one of the most significant collections of Bay Area art from the 1960s to the present, with deep strengths in Bay Area figurative and conceptual work. The satellite space at MSP hosts rotating exhibitions from the collection.
GLBT Historical Society Museum
San Francisco (Castro) | glbthistory.org/museum
The world’s first stand-alone museum dedicated to LGBTQ history and culture, located in the Castro district. Exhibitions draw on one of the most extensive collections of LGBTQ archival material in the world, spanning art, activism, community life, and politics.
Legion of Honor
San Francisco (Lincoln Park) | legionofhonor.famsf.org
Part of FAMSF, the Legion of Honor is modeled on the Palais de la Légion d’honneur in Paris. The collection spans 4,000 years of European art, with particular strength in prints and drawings and a permanent installation of Rodin sculpture. The setting on a headland overlooking the Pacific is among the most dramatic of any art museum in the US.
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art (MarinMOCA)
Novato | marinmoca.org
Free, non-collecting contemporary art museum with more than 50 artist studios on site, alongside a main gallery and the Ron Collins lobby gallery. A community anchor for contemporary art in the North Bay.
Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)
San Francisco (685 Mission Street) | moadsf.org
Contemporary art museum devoted exclusively to the art and culture of the African Diaspora, one of only a few such museums in the country. Opened in 2005 in the St. Regis Museum Tower in the Yerba Buena Arts District; a Smithsonian Affiliate. Marked its 20th anniversary in 2025 with new hours and the exhibition “Unbound: Art, Blackness and the Universe.”
Museum of Sonoma County
Santa Rosa | museumsc.org
Founded in 1985, spanning two buildings — a contemporary gallery and a historic 1910 post office — with 12 to 15 rotating art and history exhibitions a year and a permanent collection of more than 18,000 objects documenting the region and its artists.
Oakland Museum of California (OMCA)
Oakland | museumca.org
A distinctive institution that integrates California art, natural sciences, and social history under one roof. The art collection is particularly strong in California figurative painting and the California design movement. Regular community events and a large First Fridays market make it a civic anchor in downtown Oakland.
San José Museum of Art
San Jose | sjmusart.org
The primary modern and contemporary art museum in Silicon Valley, with a collection of more than 2,400 works focused on art of the American West and Pacific Rim. Has occupied its downtown San Jose building since 1969.
SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
San Francisco (SoMa) | sfmoma.org
The largest museum of modern and contemporary art in the US outside New York, with a collection of more than 35,000 works. The Snøhetta-expanded building opened in 2016. Strengths include photography, postwar painting and sculpture, and media arts. The Fisher Collection of Abstract Expressionism and contemporary art is on long-term loan.
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
San Francisco (145 Hooper Street, Dogpatch) | wattis.org
California College of the Arts’ center for contemporary art research and exhibitions, organized around a single annual research theme. One of the most intellectually rigorous contemporary art venues in the Bay Area, producing exhibitions, publications, and public programs that travel internationally.
San Francisco State University — Fine Arts Gallery
San Francisco | art.sfsu.edu (not confirmed)
Exhibition space for the SFSU School of Art, presenting student, faculty, and visiting artist work.
Stanford Art Gallery
Stanford | art.stanford.edu/exhibitions/exhibition-spaces/stanford-art-gallery
A 1,900-square-foot exhibition space run by Stanford’s Department of Art & Art History, distinct from the Cantor Arts Center and the Anderson Collection. Presents exhibitions tied to the department’s curricula and research rather than an encyclopedic or donor collection.
UC Berkeley — Worth Ryder Art Gallery
Berkeley | art.berkeley.edu/exhibitions (not confirmed)
Student-run gallery within UC Berkeley’s Art Practice department, presenting student and emerging artist exhibitions.
University of San Francisco — Thacher Gallery
San Francisco | usfca.edu/arts-sciences/thacher-gallery (not confirmed)
USF’s on-campus exhibition space presenting contemporary and historical work across disciplines.
Berggruen Gallery
San Francisco (Sutter Street) | berggruen.com
One of the oldest and most established commercial galleries in San Francisco, founded in the 1960s. Specializes in 20th and 21st century American and European art, with a strong program in postwar and contemporary painting and sculpture. A destination for both secondary market work and primary gallery programming.
Catharine Clark Gallery
San Francisco | cclarkgallery.com
A long-running SF gallery known for supporting experimental and socially engaged Bay Area and national artists. Clark has consistently championed work that engages with identity, politics, and materiality.
Climate Control Gallery
San Francisco | climatecontrolsf.org
Contemporary art gallery founded in 2023 in the Mission District. The program puts emerging Bay Area artists in dialogue with international practices through a rotating slate of solo and group exhibitions; has exhibited at the Paris Internationale art fair, and Material Art Fair in CDMX.
Crown Point Press
San Francisco | crownpointpress.com
One of the most significant fine art printmaking studios in the US, founded in 1962. Crown Point has worked with an extraordinary roster of artists — John Cage, Kara Walker, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn — producing etchings and woodblock prints. The gallery sells and archives editions alongside an active studio program.
Et al.
San Francisco (Chinatown and Mission District) | etaletc.com
Adventurous contemporary gallery with two SF locations, co-directed by Aaron Harbour, Jackie Im, and Kevin Krueger. Operating since 2013, Et al. is known for an artist-driven program that foregrounds emerging and under-recognized Bay Area and international artists. Participates in NADA and Material Art Fair; also maintains a book subscription and publishing program.
Fraenkel Gallery
San Francisco (Sutter Street) | fraenkelgallery.com
One of the most significant photography galleries in the US, founded in 1979. Fraenkel represents a roster of major historical and contemporary photographers including Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, Adam Fuss, and Nicholas Nixon, alongside a program of works on paper. The gallery has been instrumental in establishing photography’s place in the fine art market.
Gallery Wendi Norris
San Francisco | gallerywendinorris.com
Contemporary gallery with a program that emphasizes 20th and 21st century art by women artists and artists with connections to Surrealism, Latin America, and Asia. Known for rigorous scholarship alongside its commercial program.
Hosfelt Gallery
San Francisco (Potrero Hill) | hosfeltgallery.com
Established in 1996, Hosfelt is one of the Bay Area’s most respected galleries for international contemporary art. The program has historically emphasized drawing, painting, and works on paper by artists whose practices engage questions of perception, language, and mark-making.
Jack Fischer Gallery
San Francisco (venue changes with each new show) | jackfischergallery.com
Bay Area-focused contemporary gallery with a particular investment in painting and works on paper. Fischer maintains close relationships with regional artists and has been a consistent advocate for Bay Area figurative and abstract work.
Jessica Silverman Gallery
San Francisco | jessicasilvermangallery.com
Well-regarded gallery representing a diverse roster of international contemporary artists, known for rigorous conceptual programming and for bringing significant international artists into conversation with Bay Area audiences.
Johansson Projects
Oakland (Temescal) | johanssengallery.com
East Bay contemporary gallery focused on emerging and mid-career artists.
K. Imperial Fine Art
San Francisco (49 Geary Street) | kimperialfineart.com
Founded in 2011 by Karen Imperial, showing conceptual and formal work — painting, installation, collage, sculpture — with an emphasis on abstraction and works on paper. Represents emerging and established artists with rigorous, boundary-testing practices. Viewing by appointment.
Robert Koch Gallery
San Francisco (49 Geary Street) | kochgallery.com
Established in 1979, one of the city’s senior photography galleries, spanning the medium’s history from 19th-century and Modernist experimental work to a contemporary program. Longtime AIPAD member, with a mission built around dialogue on the social, environmental, and aesthetic issues of the moment.
Manna Gallery
Oakland | mannagallery.com
Intimate Uptown Oakland gallery showing contemporary painting, printmaking, collage, sculpture, and installation by Northern California artists, with rotating exhibitions that invite slow looking across a range of craft-driven practices, from marquetry to photography. A member of Oakland Art Murmur since 2011.
Maybaum Gallery
San Francisco (49 Geary Street, with a satellite at 48 Stockton Street) | maybaumgallery.com
Founded in 2018 by Christina Maybaum, drawing on nearly two decades in auction houses, museums, and galleries. Represents international emerging and mid-career artists with a focus on process-driven work that reveals the artist’s hand, shown through solo exhibitions and art fairs.
Park Life
San Francisco | parklifestore.com
Independent shop and gallery in the Inner Richmond, opened in 2006 by Jamie Alexander and Derek Song. Park Life pairs a curated retail program — design objects, artist multiples, books on art and photography — with an adjoining gallery that mounts roughly ten contemporary art exhibitions a year. A low-key hybrid space that’s been a steady presence in SF’s independent art and design scene for two decades.
pt.2
Oakland (1523b & 1525 Webster Street) | part2gallery.com
Oakland gallery directed by Brock Brake, with a deep commitment to Bay Area artists. Known for long-term relationships with its artists and a program that moves between emerging and established voices, with a strong emphasis on painting. Artists include Brett Flanigan, Muzae Sesay, Martha Shaw, and Will Yackulic.
Minnesota Street Project (MSP)
San Francisco (Dogpatch) — 1275 Minnesota St and 1150 25th St | minnesotastreetproject.com/galleries
A nonprofit-owned complex providing below-market-rate space to galleries, artists, and arts organizations in the Dogpatch neighborhood. Developed by Deborah and Andy Rappaport in response to the displacement of arts spaces from the city, MSP has become one of the most important commercial gallery hubs in the Bay Area. Current tenants include:
See minnesotastreetproject.com/galleries for the current roster, as tenants change periodically.
500 Capp Street Foundation (David Ireland House)
San Francisco (Mission District) | 500cappstreet.org
Preserves and activates artist David Ireland’s Victorian home at 500 Capp Street, which Ireland transformed over decades into a total work of art. The foundation presents site-specific commissions, residencies, and public programs that engage with Ireland’s legacy and with questions of domesticity, memory, and labor.
Adobe Books Backroom Gallery
San Francisco (Mission District) | adobebooks.com
A community institution since 1989: a used bookstore on 16th Street with a functioning artist-run gallery in the back room. One of the longest-running artist-run spaces in the city, known for a program that is genuinely community-directed and low-barrier.
Artists’ Television Access (ATA)
San Francisco (Mission District) | atasite.org
Artist-run nonprofit dedicated to experimental film, video, performance, and new media since 1984. ATA produces screenings, installations, and events outside the mainstream gallery circuit; it has been a home for experimental and underground work in SF for four decades.
Berkeley Art Center
Berkeley (Live Oak Park, 1275 Walnut Street) | berkeleyartcenter.org
Member-supported nonprofit gallery in a WPA-era building in Live Oak Park, presenting Bay Area emerging and established artists since 1967. One of the oldest artist-serving organizations in the East Bay.
Bedford Gallery
Walnut Creek (Lesher Center for the Arts) | bedfordgallery.org
The largest community-based visual arts facility between the Bay Area and Sacramento, with 3,500 square feet of exhibition space inside Walnut Creek’s Lesher Center for the Arts. Presents historic, modern, and contemporary artists across a full exhibition calendar.
Blunk Space
Point Reyes Station | blunkspace.com
Gallery and research center dedicated to preserving and advancing the legacy of sculptor JB Blunk, founded in 2021 by his daughter, curator Mariah Nielson. Puts contemporary and historical art and design into conversation with Blunk’s practice and his circle — including West Marin artists like Gordon Onslow Ford — with exhibiting artists given access to the Blunk House and the estate’s archive.
CounterPulse
San Francisco | counterpulsesf.org (not confirmed)
Performing arts center and residency program supporting experimental, community-rooted, and politically engaged performance and interdisciplinary art. A home for queer, trans, and BIPOC artists in particular.
Cushion Works
San Francisco | cushionworks.org
Small, artist-centric gallery in the Mission District, operating out of a building that also houses a working cushion factory and artist studios. Cushion Works focuses on the unrenowned — debut and mid-career shows, rediscoveries, and overdue reappraisals — and has mounted more than 40 exhibitions alongside readings, screenings, performances, and publications. Press coverage includes the New Yorker, Artforum, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Galería de la Raza
San Francisco (2857 24th Street, Mission District) | galeriadelaraza.org
Founded in 1970, Galería de la Raza is one of the oldest and most important Chicanx/Latinx cultural institutions in the US. Located at the cultural heart of the Mission District, it presents exhibitions, public murals, and community programming rooted in Chicanx art, politics, and culture.
Gray Area Foundation for the Arts
San Francisco (Grand Theater, Mission District) | grayarea.org
Arts center at the intersection of art, technology, and social change, occupying a historic movie theater on Mission Street. Gray Area runs residencies, festivals, education programs, and community events focused on digital culture, generative art, and civic technology.
Headlands Center for the Arts
Sausalito (Marin Headlands) | headlands.org
Artist residency and presenting organization in the historic Fort Barry military campus in the Marin Headlands, fifteen minutes from San Francisco. One of the most competitive residencies in the US, hosting national and international artists for extended periods. Annual open studios are a major Bay Area event.
KADIST
San Francisco (office; no public venue) | kadist.org
International contemporary art nonprofit with operations in San Francisco and Paris. KADIST builds long-term relationships with artists through acquisitions, residencies, and programming. The SF chapter formerly had a public venue at 20th and Folsom in the Mission; it now operates as a nomadic presence, continuing occassional events and collaborations in the Bay Area region.
Kearny Street Workshop
San Francisco | kearnystreet.org
The oldest multidisciplinary Asian Pacific American arts organization in the US, founded in 1972. KSW produces the annual APAture festival, artist fellowships, and community programming centered on API artists — a significant institution across the Mission and Tenderloin.
La Peña Cultural Center
Berkeley (3105 Shattuck Avenue) | lapena.org
Founded in 1975 in solidarity with refugees from Chile’s military coup, La Peña has been a home for Latin American and social justice arts, music, dance, and community organizing for fifty years. One of the most significant community cultural centers in the Bay Area.
Letterform Archive
San Francisco (Dogpatch) | letterformarchive.org
Nonprofit organization, collection and library dedicated to lettering, typography, printing, and graphic design, founded in 2014 by designer Rob Saunders from his private collection. Holds more than 100,000 items and offers free public access, courses, exhibitions, and lectures.
Pro Arts Gallery and Commons
Oakland | proartsgallery.com
A pioneering Oakland arts organization founded in 1974, known for initiating the East Bay Open Studios and for presenting contemporary art with a focus on Bay Area artists. Now operating as a gallery and community space in downtown Oakland.
Root Division
San Francisco (SoMa) | rootdivision.org
Artist-in-residence organization and gallery founded in 2002. Root Division operates a studio rental program for Bay Area artists, a youth arts education program, and a public gallery — all under one roof in SoMa. One of the most practical artist-support organizations in the city.
Roxie Theater
San Francisco (Mission District) | roxie.com
Historic nonprofit arthouse cinema on 16th Street, one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the country. Programs first-run independent film, repertory, and festivals as a community-owned alternative to the multiplex.
Slash
San Francisco (1150 25th Street, Dogpatch / Minnesota Street Project) | slashart.org
Independent nonprofit exhibition and project space within the Minnesota Street Project complex. A regular collaborator with 500 Capp Street and Et al. for fairs, fundraisers, and community programming; co-hosted the Et al. books pop-up at the 2026 SF Art Book Fair.
SF Camerawork
San Francisco (Fort Mason Center) | sfcamerawork.org
Nonprofit gallery dedicated to new ideas and directions in photography, founded in 1974 (originally as Lamkin Camerawork Gallery). Based at Fort Mason Center, it’s one of the longest-running photography-focused nonprofits in the country.
San Francisco Cinematheque
San Francisco | sfcinematheque.org
Nonprofit exhibitor of avant-garde, experimental, and personally expressive film, video, and performance work, founded in 1961 by filmmakers including Bruce Baillie and Chick Strand. Screens at venues across the city rather than a single fixed space; closely tied to the Canyon Cinema experimental film community.
San Francisco Center for the Book
San Francisco (375 Rhode Island Street) | sfcb.org
Nonprofit dedicated to the art and craft of the book — letterpress printing, bookbinding, and artists’ books — offering more than 300 workshops and 44 free public events a year alongside gallery exhibitions.
Saint Joseph’s Art Society
San Francisco (SoMa) | saintjosephsartssociety.com
Multidisciplinary arts nonprofit founded by designer Ken Fulk in 2018, housed inside a deconsecrated National Historic Landmark church at 1401 Howard Street. Programs span art and design exhibitions, immersive events, and curated retail alongside a broader mission to celebrate arts and culture in the Bay Area.
SOMArts Cultural Center
San Francisco (SoMa) | somartsculturalcenter.org
City-operated multicultural arts center founded in 1975, offering below-market studio rentals, gallery exhibitions, and community rentals across a large SoMa complex. One of the most affordable and accessible spaces for community-based arts production in the city.
Southern Exposure (SoEx)
San Francisco (Mission District) | southernexposure.org
Artist-support organization and gallery founded in 1974, known for commissions, residencies, and the Alternative Exposure grant for Bay Area artists. One of the oldest artist-serving nonprofits in SF, with a long commitment to experimentation and risk.
The Lab
San Francisco (Mission District) | thelab.org
Experimental arts space and nonprofit founded in 1984, dedicated to interdisciplinary performance, sound, video, and installation. One of the longest-running experimental venues in the US; an essential home for work that resists easy categorization.
YBCA (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)
San Francisco (SoMa, adjacent to SFMOMA) | ybca.org
Major multidisciplinary arts center presenting visual art, performance, film, and civic programming. YBCA has been one of the leading venues for contemporary art in the region since 1992, with a particular emphasis on community-engaged and socially invested practice.
Important Projects
Oakland (Rockridge) | importantprojects.net
Artist-run exhibition space founded in 2009 by Jason Benson, Sean Buckelew, and Joel Dean, now spanning two adjoining spaces that program roughly two shows a month. Rarely sells work — proceeds go back into programming rather than functioning as a commercial venture, giving artists room to test ideas without market pressure.
Personal Space
Vallejo | personalspace.space
Artist-run gallery in Vallejo, founded in 2023 by Lisa Rybovich Crallé. Personal Space presents emerging, under-recognized, and mid-career artists working in poetic and experimental modes, with a program that centers historically marginalized artists — BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled — and an anti-capitalist model in which artists keep 70% of sales.
120710
Berkeley (Gilman District) | 120710.art
Experimental gallery opened in 2023 by Jonathan Bachrach, a former Cal computer science professor, as a space for artists to take risks outside commercial pressures. Takes no commission on sales and is funded by Bachrach’s own savings and donations; group shows rotate curators each time to keep the community wide.
TIAT (the intersection of art & technology)
San Francisco (151 Powell Street, Union Square) | tiat.place
Nonprofit gallery for artworks made with technology, founded by Ash Herr as a roving salon series before opening a 4,900-square-foot brick-and-mortar space in November 2025 as part of the city’s “Vacant to Vibrant” downtown storefront program. Hosts exhibitions, workshops, and its signature “TIAT salons” which are demo nights for creative technologists, and a Mozilla-backed artist residency.
Safemart
http://www.safemart.org/index.html
A low-key high-security artist-run project space located in San Francisco.
Creative Growth Art Center
Oakland | creativegrowth.org
Studio program, gallery, and gift shop supporting artists with developmental and physical disabilities, founded in 1974. One of the first organizations of its kind in the world and among the most influential: artists including William Scott, Judith Scott, and Dan Miller have gained international recognition through Creative Growth’s advocacy and exhibition programming.
Creativity Explored
San Francisco (Mission District) | creativityexplored.org
Studio and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities, founded in 1983. Creativity Explored supports more than 100 artists in its Mission District studio, produces exhibitions nationally and internationally, and sells artists’ work through its gallery and online.
NIAD Art Center
Richmond | niadart.org
Studio program and gallery for artists with developmental disabilities, founded in 1982 in Richmond. NIAD (National Institute of Art and Disabilities) was one of the original organizations to advocate for the creative rights of disabled artists, alongside Creative Growth.