{"id":493122,"date":"2026-01-05T02:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/493122\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T02:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:37:21","slug":"san-diego-museum-of-art-is-turning-100-in-2026-we-take-a-look-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/493122\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego Museum of Art is turning 100 in 2026. We take a look back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>The San Diego Museum of Art, which is about to turn 100. (Photo by <\/p>\n

San Diego Museum of Art<\/a> is readying to celebrate its centennial<\/a> with hopes of more growth in the next 100 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But its past century included triumphs and tribulations that will inform the future. Here\u2019s a look back at San Diego\u2019s oldest and largest art museum, which boasts 32,000 works and a footprint of 148,000 square feet (that\u2019s about as big as 2.5 football fields) in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

A temple of art<\/strong><\/p>\n

The San Diego Museum of Art was founded after the positive response to an art exhibit at the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition<\/a>. That exhibit held 19th and 20th century European and American paintings, with some contributions from local artists.<\/p>\n

City leaders wanted a permanent municipal art gallery that promoted San Diego as a growing cultural center.<\/p>\n

With a site secured in Balboa Park, where the exposition was held, architect William Templeton Johnson took the Spanish Colonial architecture of the exposition a step further by emulating Spanish Renaissance architecture. The fa\u00e7ade, with life-size sculptures of Spanish painters, directly harkened to the Cathedral of Valladolid in Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to SDMA\u2019s chief curator Anita Feldman, the cathedral-inspired entrance was similar to other European and American museums where Greco-Roman features, including wide stairs to the entrance, columns and statues, made them feel like a temple. A fa\u00e7ade exceeding the height of the building and then a tiny door combined to make the museum seem deceptively outsized.<\/p>\n

This served a purpose: The elevated grandeur was meant to lead to an elevated spiritual experience viewing art inside.<\/p>\n

Museum philosophy has changed much since then, with even older institutions trying to make their collections and buildings more accessible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want you to have a good experience, but it doesn\u2019t have to be like a temple,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cThe museum is now a community cultural center. It\u2019s open to everyone. It\u2019s not this elitist thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum opened on Feb. 28, 1926 as the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego to exhibit contemporary paintings and sculpture \u2013 a fact which surprises residents who associate the museum with its impressive collection of historic European paintings. Those were donated later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the museum opened in 1926, it was showing art that was contemporary at the time,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cBut it is also true at the same time, we do have this core collection of old master paintings, which is incredible for San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n

SDMA \u2013 its beginnings and art on view<\/p>\n