
Dozens of fascinating art exhibits in San Francisco are refreshed and replaced every single month. We’re keeping tabs on the best new temporary displays including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibitions, fine art at the de Young and the Legion of Honor, and contemporary art exhibits at the Asian Art Museum.
Read on to start planning your next museum visit, and be sure to see our list of free museum days in SF to get the most bang for your buck.
Table Of Contents
All image credits are listed at the bottom of the article.
Current exhibitions
Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm
In this San Francisco exhibition, you can explore over 250 of Paul McCartney’s personal photographs at the height of Beatlemania, as well as video clips and archival pieces. McCartney took the photos himself on his Pentax camera and just unearthed them in 2020 to the delight of fans around the world. See captures of the band’s journey to stardom between December 1963 and February 1964.
🗓️ Dates: Opening soon! Mar. 1 – July 6, 2025
📍 Location: de Young Museum – 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: Paul McCartney Photographs requires special timed tickets to the de Young Museum.
Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture
Even if you’re not a lifelong sports fan, this new SFMOMA exhibition is a delightful examination of sports on our culture and psyches. From art created by athletes to the history of football helmet design, Get in the Game taps into all the ways sports make us feel. Look out for a 22-person foosball table, a portrait of swimmer Diana Nyad, and a ceramic ode to Kobe Bryant.
🗓️ Dates: Closing soon! Oct. 19, 2024 – Feb. 18, 2025
📍 Location: SFMOMA – 151 3rd St, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: Get in the Game is included with general admission tickets to SFMOMA
Love + Basketball: My Freedom Gotta Rim On It
This new MoAD exhibition launching during NBA All-Star Weekend will explore the intersection of art and sports. The included works come from a global open call to Black artists, celebrating the impact of basketball on Black culture.
🗓️ Dates: Closing soon! Feb. 5 – Mar. 2, 2025
📍 Location: Museum of the African Diaspora – 685 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
🎟️ Tickets: Love + Basketball is included with general admission tickets to MoAD
Look Up: Eclipse, Moon, and Mars
The Exploratorium presents a new exhibition this spring all about space exploration, building on the museum’s partnership with NASA to stream total solar eclipses. Some interactive elements include an immersive eclipse experience with stunning soundscapes, a large-scale moon sculpture by Luke Jerram, and a display of NASA’s Mars Rovers and Orbiters.
🗓️ Dates: Opening soon! Feb. 15 – Apr. 27, 2025
📍 Location: Exploratorium – Pier 15 Embarcadero at, Green St, San Francisco, CA 94111
🎟️ Tickets: Look Up is included with general admission tickets to the Exploratorium
Liberatory Living: Protective Interiors & Radical Black Joy
MoAD is revealing an exciting new round of fall exhibitions starting in October. This one examines the way in which Black people cultivate domestic interiors as environments for action, joy, and rest, and homecoming. See a collection of furnishings, lighting, wall coverings, and more from sixteen contemporary designers and artists.
🗓️ Dates: Closing soon! Oct. 2, 2024 – Mar. 2, 2025
📍 Location: Museum of the African Diaspora – 685 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
🎟️ Tickets: Liberatory Living is included with general admission tickets to MoAD
Amy Sherald: American Sublime
You might recognize Amy Sherald’s name from her famous 2018 portrait of Michelle Obama, which debuted in 2018 and is usually displayed in the National Portrait Gallery. That portrait will be displayed here at SFMOMA in a dedicated gallery space as part of Sherald’s new exhibition. Explore nearly 50 paintings organized in six thematic galleries that illustrate the artist’s career since 2007.
🗓️ Dates: Closing soon! November 16, 2024–March 9, 2025
📍 Location: SFMOMA – 151 3rd St, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: Amy Sherald: American Sublime requires special admission tickets to SFMOMA
Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink
The Asian Art Museum’s new exhibition celebrates modern master Qi Baishi (1864–1957) with memorable displays of Chinese painting. See over 40 stunning works on paper, plus handwritten letters and interactive elements. The museum is hosting ongoing public tours of the exhibition if you want a more comprehensive look.
🗓️ Dates: Dec. 12, 2025 – Apr. 7, 2025
📍 Location: Asian Art Museum – 200 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA 94102
🎟️ Tickets: Qi Baishi is included with general admission tickets to the Asian Art Museum
RugLife
The Museum of Craft and Design is installing an interesting new exhibition devoted to the art of rug making. See the work of 14 contemporary artists from all over the world, inspired by diverse cultural histories and using an array of different materials.
🗓️ Dates: Dec. 14, 2024 – Apr. 20, 2025
📍 Location: Museum of Craft and Design – 2569 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94107
🎟️ Tickets: RugLife is included with general admission tickets to the Museum of Craft and Design.
Dress Rehearsal: The Art of Theatrical Design
In honor of the Legion of Honor’s upcoming centennial, this new exhibition showcases a selection of the museum’s best costume and set designs. See the works presented through two connected stories about the history of the museum itself and the legacy of theater and dance. Selected works include dozens of Russian theater and dance drawings from the early 20th century, as well as paintings by Pablo Picasso, Natalia Goncharova, and Marie Laurencin.
🗓️ Dates: Nov. 9, 2024 – May 11, 2025
📍 Location: Legion of Honor – 100 34th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121
🎟️ Tickets: Dress Rehearsal is included with general admission tickets to the Legion of Honor
Yayoi Kusama: Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love
Yayoi Kusama’s famous immersive mirror rooms came to SFMOMA for a massively popular exhibition that just recently closed. Luckily, if you missed it, a few of Kusama’s artworks remain on display including the popular Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love. The piece consists of a large cube containing a mirrored space that you’ll step into. The external light is filtered through colored holes, creating a dynamic, shifting environment among oversized transparent acrylic dots.
🗓️ Dates: June 22, 2024 – May 2025
📍 Location: SFMOMA – 151 3rd St, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: Yayoi Kusama is included with general admission tickets to SFMOMA
2024 SECA Art Award Exhibition
SFMOMA presents the SECA Art Award Exhibition every two years with large installations by local artists, and they’ve honored over 100 artists since 1967. This year, see displays by local artists Rose D’Amato, Angela Hennessy, and Rupy C. Tut.
🗓️ Dates: Dec. 14, 2024–May 26, 2025
📍 Location: SFMOMA – 151 3rd St, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: The SECA Art Award Exhibition is free and open to the public at SFMOMA
New Work: Samson Young
This multimedia installation by Hong Kong-based artist Samson Young examines the relationships between love, attention, and memory. He uses the memory recall process of generative AI to inspire colorful soundscapes and sculptures.
🗓️ Dates: Dec. 21, 2024 – June 22, 2025
📍 Location: SFMOMA – 151 3rd St, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: New Work: Samson Young is included with general admission to SFMOMA
Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors
The Visitors features nine large video screens projecting Kjartansson and eight of his friends as they present an intimate musical composition. The result is an hour-long piece in a single take, presented from nine different musical perspectives that are both highly individualized and inextricably linked.
🗓️ Dates: Through Sept. 28, 2025
📍Location: SFMOMA – 151 3rd St, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: The Visitors is included with general admission to SFMOMA
Leilah Barbirye: We Have a History
Ugandan sculptor Leilah Babirye creates emotive and engaging sculptures using wood carvings, ceramics, and found objects. Whether a tiny talisman or a towering totem, the pieces all serve as portraits of Babirye’s LGBTQ+ community. Walk among dozens of eclectic pieces to discover how she represents her cultural and personal identity.
🗓️ Dates: June 22, 2024 – Oct. 26, 2025
📍 Location: de Young Museum – 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
🎟️ Tickets: Leilah Babirye is included with general admission to the de Young Museum
Upcoming exhibitions
We’re looking forward to many more major exhibitions in 2025. Here are some save-the-dates for now.
- Ruth Asawa: Retrospective at SFMOMA (Apr. 5 – Sept. 2, 2025) – See over 300 artworks by groundbreaking sculptural artist Ruth Asawa, whose deep connections to San Francisco are felt to this day.
- Art of Manga at the de Young Museum (Sept. 27, 2025 – Jan. 25, 2026) – Experience the first major manga exhibition in the Americas with this presentation of 700+ drawings by influential manga artists.
- Manet & Morisot at the Legion of Honor (Oct. 11, 2025 – Mar. 1, 2026) – An examination of the artistic exchange between Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.
From enormous immersive works to intimate gallery showcases, these SF art exhibitions and museum installations are worth an afternoon out of the house. Whether you’re hosting guests or want to take yourself on a solo date, there’s always something new to see in San Francisco. Which one will you visit next?
Image credits:
Featured image: Get in the Game (installation view, SFMOMA); photo: Matthew Millman courtesy SFMOMA
- Paul McCartney. John Lennon. Paris, January 1964. Pigmented inkjet print.© 1964 Paul McCartney under exclusive license to MPL Archive LLP
- Get in the Game (installation view, SFMOMA); photo: Matthew Millman, courtesy SFMOMA
- Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s window installation entitled “Dwellers: Native One” above MoAD’s entrance on Mission St. Photo credit: Tinashe Chidarikire
- Museum of the Moon by Luke Jerram. Photo courtesy of the Exploratorium
- Michael Bennett for Studio Kër, Pews, 2023. Soft Leather & Angelin Wood. 94.0 x 33.6 x 34.0 in. Photo courtesy of William Stuart via the Museum of the African Diaspora
- Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama by Amy Sherald, oil on linen, 2018, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
- Installation view of Qi Baishi_ Inspiration In Ink, at the Asian Art Museum December 12, 2024 – April 7, 2025. Photograph © Asian Art Museum San Francisco, by Kevin Candland (25)Oksana Levchenya, Pac Man and Cossacks, 2022. Image via the Museum of Craft and Design.
- Alexandra Exter (1882–1949), Revue, pl. 10 from the set, Décors de théâtre (detail). Theater and Dance Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nikita D. Lobanov, T&D1977.34 © Exter-Lissim Archives. Photograph by Jorge Bachmann
- Yayoi Kusama, Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love. Image via SFMOMA
- Rose D’Amato, Chevrolet Six I, II, 2024, Sunshine Drive-In, 2024, and Roadtest and Multicheck (From the Chevrolet Six Construction Site), 2024 (installation view, SFMOMA); photo: Don Ross
- Samson Young, Altar Music (liturgy for an indecisive believer), 2022; courtesy the artist and Galerie Gisela Capitain; photo: Simon Vogel
- Ragnar Kjartansson, The Visitors (installation view), 2012. Courtesy of SFMOMA
- Installation view of Leilah Babirye: We Have a History, de Young, San Francisco, 2024. Photo by Gary Sexton. Image courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco