California's best art galleries

Interactive map key:  Pink markers are free galleries, blue markers are galleries with an admission fee. Click markers to see what's where; gallery descriptions below.

California is a state that has generated vast fortunes, or attracted men and women with them; and among those who have amassed these vast fortunes, some have been passionate art collectors.
   The private residences of California's wealthiest citizens are home to fabulous collections of American and international art, much of it viewable only to the owners, their friends and visitors. Yet a lot of the American and World art that has been acquired by California collectors is today on public view in some of the great California art galleries and museums. Some of these great collections remain in private hands, others have been bequeathed to public museums and galleries or universities.

  Below is the About-California.com selection of the finest art galleries in California, these being those with the best and most extensive collections of American, European or world art, or museums which display smaller collections but ones that are particularly significant in their field.

 In addition to the top ten galleries listed below, California also has dozens more art galleries, with a particularly large number of smaller galleries specialised in modern and contemporary art.

The top ten art galleries in California

• The Paul Getty Center.  Private art collection and museum in Los Angeles. One of the great art and history museums in the USA, with a very rich collection of American, European and world art., displayed in a magnificent complex on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
  Admission free. Parking $15. Closed Mondays.  Website.
• Los Angeles county Museum of Art .A large public art gallery. Painting, sculpture and the decorative arts from the Americas and round the world. Has a good collection of 20th century art, including works by Picasso, Braque, Matisse, Miro, and the German Expressionists.
  General admission  $15. Closed Wednesdays.  Website
• Norton-Simon Museum - Pasadena.  One of the finest private art collections in North America, particularly renowned for its collection of European art covering the 15th to 20th centuries.  
  Admission $12. Under-19s free. Closed Tuesdays  Website 
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) - San Francisco. One of the great modern art museums in the USA.
   Admission $25. Closed Wednesdays . Website
• Legion of Honor museum,  - San Francisco's leading classic art gallery.  One of the great American collections of European art.
  Standard entrance : $15, under-18s free. Closed Mondays. Website
• San Diego Museum of Art, A public art gallery of particular note for its collection of Italian Renaissance art and Spanish masters. Includes masterpieces by Giotto, Fra Angelico, El Greco, Goya, Rubens, Monet, Matisse and many more great masters. 
  Standard entrance : $15, under-18s free. Closed Wednesdays.  Website
• The Huntington Library and Art Collections San Marino, Much more than just an art gallery, the Huntington has a fabulous collection of rare books from the Middle Ages to the present, including a Shakespeare First Folio.
  Standard admission : $25, under-12s $13. Closed Tuesdays.  Website
• Crocker Art Museum - Sacramento. One of the oldest museums in California, with a great collection of Californian art, as well as art from the USA and round the world.
  Standard admission : $10, under-7s $13. Closed Mondays.  Website
• The Cantor Center for visual arts, at Stanford University.  A large and disparate collection of art from around the world, notably including African and Native American art, as well as the largest collection of sculptures by Rodin outside of Paris.
  Admission free. Closed Tuesdays.  Website
• The Irvine Museum, at the University of California, Irvine, Orange county.  Probably the finest collection of Californian Impressionist and post-Impressionist art from the period 1890-1930. An eye-opener for visitors unfamiliar with American impressionist art. Recently donated to the University of California.
  Admission free. Closed Mondays. Website

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