San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego

I loved the museum! The whole structure and the art pieces were beautiful! I have been taking an art history course for a while now and For the first time in a very long time I actually Understood what the art pieces meant and what the details in them represented. The piece that stood at the most to me was The Penitent Magdalene by Cesare Procaccini because it was showing life and death and beauty and darkness at the same time. Overall I had a great experience and can’t wait to go back again!

We very much enjoyed the docent tour "Reflections on Monet." It was an excellent way to better understand art history and concepts relevant to the Museum's Monet collection. The artwork throughout the Museum is enhanced by the creative lighting designed by the Museum staff.

Museum has a discriminatory bag check policy. If you are a white woman, you're welcome to carry your backpack to the side or in the front. Everyone else, your backpack needs to be checked in, even if the guards have to chase after you. I wish, wish, wish so badly that I was just imagining this, but I was sitting on a bench inside the museum by the entrance on a very busy day. My phone had died and I had nothing better to do but to people watch while I waited for my partner who was nearly an hour late. It saddens me deeply to witness internalized racism from the workers who were majority people of color. Please retrain your workers and ask your contracted security to do the same. It's incredibly egregious. Anyone who doesn't believe me, just observe them for ten minutes and you'll see what I saw.

I am not huge into art, but I still really enjoyed myself here. They had a wonderful variety of pieces from different eras and regions. Really neat. I particularly enjoyed the European paintings upstairs and the Asian section down stairs. The building is large enough that you aren't crowded at all while looking at the art and you are able to casually stroll through without bothering others. It's pretty quiet in there since people aren't bringing children, so that's a plus if you're looking for a more relaxed atmosphere.

Decent volume of collection and high quality, including a portrait from Diorgione. Well organized and easy to walk through.