Art History

A contemporary art museum founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The museum is home to the 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide.

Founded in 1977, CAAM has a long and rich history. The first African American museum of art, history, and culture fully supported by a state, CAAM was the direct result of a sustained, multiyear campaign of activism undertaken by visionary founders and community members. Its creation was an early and tangible recognition by the State of California of the critically important role African Americans have played in the American West’s cultural, economic, and political development.

The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs. The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu houses approximately 44,000 works of art from the Museum's extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, of which over 1,200 are on view.

A vibrant intellectual and creative nexus, the Hammer is fueled by dynamic exhibitions and programs—including lectures, symposia, film series, readings, and musical performances—that spark meaningful encounters with art and ideas

Since its inception in 1965, LACMA has been devoted to collecting works of art that span both history and geography, in addition to representing Los Angeles's uniquely diverse population. It is the largest art museum in the western United States with a collection that includes over 120,000 objects dating from antiquity to the present, encompassing the geographic world and nearly the entire history of art.

Founded in 1979, MOCA is the only museum in Los Angeles devoted exclusively to contemporary art. It is committed to the collection, presentation, and interpretation of work produced since 1940 in all media, and to preserving that work for future generations.

The Museum of Latin American Art was founded by Dr. Robert Gumbiner in 1996 in Long Beach, California, United States, and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino art.

In LA's Scottish Rite Masonic temple on Wilshire Boulevard, this new art museum showcases 1,500 works by more than 200 artists, dating from the 1990 to the present.

The Norton Simon Museum is known around the world as one of the most remarkable private art collections ever assembled. Over a thirty-year period 20th-century industrialist Norton Simon (1907–1993) amassed an astonishing collection of European art from the Renaissance to the 20th century and a stellar collection of South and Southeast Asian art spanning 2,000 years.

The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and California plein-air painting.

In 2017, University of California, Irvine (UCI) established the Institute and Museum of California Art following the acquisition of two important collections of California Art: The Irvine Museum Collection and The Buck Collection, which represents over 4,500 works of art mostly made by artists who at some point lived or created work in the Golden State. These artworks represent important aspects of California’s modern and contemporary art and are the generous and generative
baseline for IMCA’s work.

OCMA is the premier visual arts organization in Orange County, California. The museum's collection comprises nearly 2,500 objects of modern and contemporary art, with a concentration on the art of California from the early 20th century to works by local, national, and international artists working today.

The San Diego Museum of Art, the region’s oldest, largest and most visited art museum, provides a rich and diverse cultural experience for almost 250,000 visitors annually. Located in the heart of beautiful Balboa Park, the Museum’s nationally renowned permanent collection includes Spanish and Italian old masters, South Asian paintings, and 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and sculptures.

The mission of the Museum of Photographic Arts is to inspire, educate and engage the broadest possible audience through the presentation, collection, and preservation of photography, film, and video.

With two locations, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is the region’s foremost forum devoted to the exploration and presentation of the art of our time, presenting works across all media created since 1950. Located in the heart of downtown San Diego and in the coastal community of La Jolla, MCASD provides an unprecedented variety of exhibition spaces and experiences for the community, showcasing an internationally recognized collection and a dynamic schedule of exhibitions and public programs.

The Mingei International Museum preserves and exhibits folk art, craft and design from all eras and cultures of the world. The Museum’s collection now comprises more than 26,000 objects of folk art, craft and design from 141 countries.

A guide to the Museums & Cultural Attractions of San Diego County

Plan your visits to New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, and Paris contemporary art galleries with a custom map.

The Curate LA app is a free definitive guide to the blossoming art scene in Los Angeles. You'll see lists of art openings and exhibitions by curator Shelley Holcomb and her team.