San Francisco is one of those places that’s both a hub of creative energy and a technologically driven community. It is home to some of the most progressive and creative people in America. With this kind of reputation, you can only imagine the fun things to see in this innovative city. Here are a few museums I’ve discovered in the last couple of months living in the area.
1. De Young Museum
The De Young museum can be found in San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Park. The park is a massive attraction in itself and surprisingly 20% larger than New York’s Central Park with expansive areas to cycle, walk, run, or picnic in. I’ve been a few times and haven’t seen nearly half of it yet! The museum itself has both permanent art exhibitions (collections from around the world with an emphasis on Native American and Contemporary American art) as well as special temporary exhibits. I was lucky enough to visit the French fashion designer, Jean Paul Gaultier’s exhibition, which as a young semi-fashion conscious South African never expected to see. The exhibition was inspiring and displayed many of the designers runway and haute couture masterpieces. Those who know Gaultier’s designs will recognise his unique style which is on the edgy side- displaying feathers, spikes, fur, studs, bright colours and more. My highlight was being able to admire some of the designs he created for Madonna back in the day (remember those outfits with the pointy brassieres?!) The manikin’s that showed off the outfits were so realistic looking with animated faces reflected from above and their mouthes moved when they spoke to you as you walked past! Some of these outfits took him thousands of hours to complete. Although this was a temporary exhibition, make sure you check out the museum’s website to see what events are going on during your stay.
One of Gaultier's works of art- a American Indian inspired wedding gown
A trip to De Young is not complete without a visit to the top viewing area which is on a level completely enclosed in full-length glass windows – giving you a 360 degree view of San Francisco. It really is a sight to behold (unless you’re cursed with the charming San Francisco fog in which case you won’t see much!) There’s also an interesting sculpture garden along the side of the building to browse on your way out (or like me you can park off on the grass and laugh at the silly people taking a Segway tour of the park!)
The Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the De Young Museum
2. Academy of Sciences
Right across from the De Young museum is the California Academy of Sciences. In fact if you make it up to the viewing room on the top floor of the De Young museum you’ll be able to see the awesome rooftop garden of the Academy. This museum is one of the most eco-friendly natural history museums in the word and not at all boring (I’m not really a science person, but the boyfriend is so I was a bit wary of this one before we went). The museum is divided into a few different sections and you can spend at least 3 or 4 hours walking around. There is an aquarium which is pretty informative and kid-friendly with glass viewing areas to see marine animals from all around the world. I really enjoyed seeing amazing neon-coloured tiny seahorses and beautiful jelly fish! There’s also an Amazon section which has the most ginormous Anaconda – freaky, but also worth a look (at a distance). Planetarium shows run throughout the day, perfect for kids and adults to enjoy learning about astronomy. When we visited there was an exhibition running about earthquakes (pretty notorious in the area) so we were able to watch an impressive IMAX show on natural disasters which scared me a little bit (I’ve been here for 5 months and so far have not felt any earthquakes YET!). We also got to experience an earthquake simulator. It anything, at least it gave me a few pointers on what to do when the situation arises.
The rooftop garden helps make the museum an eco-friendly building and offers a good view of the De Young Museum
My favourite part of the museum was the 4-story rainforest dome which houses 1,600 free flying birds, butterflies and insects. As you walk up the spiral staircase you immediately feel the rise in humidity as the temperature is kept constant to maintain what a real rainforest would feel like. Each level represents a different rainforest habitat with its own zoological garden. On your way out staff ask that you make sure you have no hitch-hiking butterflies clinging to your clothing or bags which I thought is pretty cute!
The rainforest dome at the Academy of Sciences is home to over 1600 live animals
The living roof garden at the top of the building is another great spot to view more beautiful San Franciscan scenery. The roof is designed in an extremely complex way (which I can’t describe here!) helping to maintain the best conditions for the plants (a lot of native wildflowers) and keeps the building cool by releasing heat.
3. SF MOMA Museum
I’m a modern art lover so this was at the top of my list when I knew I was moving to San Francisco. Located in the heart of the city’s ‘downtown’ area, the SF MOMA is another place you can spend hours wandering around. Like most art museums, they house permanent exhibitions, as well as temporary ones.
Standing in front of one of the beautiful artworks at the SF MOMA
I was extremely happy to see works by famous artists such as Klee, Picasso, Braque, Frida Kahlo, Kadinsky, Andy Warhol, Le Corbusier, Roy Lichtenstein and many more. There were even a few South African artists scattered in the diverse mix. Photography lovers will enjoy the photography exhibits – I really enjoyed seeing photographs by a group of very brave Mexican photographers. Most of these photos document illegal crossings over the US border and I found the exhibition very moving. Of course as this is a modern art museum there have to be some of the more ‘out there’ pieces which leave you wondering what on earth the artist was thinking, but this just adds to the overall experience. The museum has a great little cafe next door which you can enjoy after you’ve had your art fix for the day.
Looking down onto an interactive piece of art in the SF MOMA entrance
For more information on these great museums visit:
De Young Museum
http://deyoung.famsf.org/
California Academy of Sciences
http://www.calacademy.org/
SF Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA)
http://www.sfmoma.org/
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