Student WorkBay Area Museums and Galleries
For free tickets to San Jose Museum of Art, UC Berkeley Art Museum and The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, CLICK HERE and look on the left column under Museum Tickets. You will need an SJSU Library Card.MUSEUMS/San Francisco:
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) see map
- De Young Museum, San Francisco
- Legion of Honor, San Francisco
- Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
- Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
- Contemporary Jewish Museum
- Click here for the SFChronicle events page. Choose type of art and city.
MUSEUMS/South Bay:
- San Jose Museum of Art
- Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
- Triton Museum of Art
- Euphrat Museum of Art, De Anza College
MUSEUMS/East Bay:
- Berkeley Art Museum
- Mills College Art Museum, Oakland
- Oakland Museum of California
Summoning Ghosts: The Art of Hung Liu, March 16-June 30
GALLERIES/San Francisco & East Bay
- Map of San Francisco and East Bay galleries
- San Francisco Art Gallery Openings: Reviews and Photos (constantly updated)
- Calendar of Bay Area Shows and Events
- Comprehensive list of San Francisco Galleries
GALLERIES / South Bay
Art in Popular Culture
Movies about artists (Hollywood and Independent)- The Agony and the Ecstasy 1956. An old Hollywood classic based on the Irving Stone novel about Michaelangelo (played by Charlton Heston) *****
- Artemesia 1997. About painter Artemesia Gentileschi (1593-1653)
- Girl with a Pearl Earring 2003. Based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier about Vermeer. Stars Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. Can get a bit sappy but very visually beautiful especially the scene about grinding paints.***
- Andrei Rublev 1966. By Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovski loosly based on the 15th century Russian icon painter.
- Rembrandt 1936. Charles Laughton as Rembrandt van Rijn.
- Goya in Bordeaux 1999. Last years of Francisco Goy (1746-1828) in Spanish
- Goya's Ghosts 2006. Director Milos Forman, stars Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman. Very beautiful visually. ***
- Impromptu 1991. A really fun romantic comedy set in 1830's France about writer George Sand (Judy Davis), composer Frederic Chopin (Hugh Grant), painter Eugene Delacroix, among others. ****
- Lust for Life 1956. Classic Hollywood movie based on an Irving Stone novel about Vincent Van Gogh (Kirk Douglas) and Paul Gauguin (Anthony Quinn). A must see.*****
- Vincent & Theo 1990. A movie directed by Robert Altman that focuses on the close relationship between Vincent Van Gogh (Tim Roth) and his brother Theo. *****
- Camille Claudel 1988. A beautiful and painful film about artist Camille Claudel and her relationship with sculptor Auguste Rodin (Gérard Depardieu) in French. *****
- Carrington 1995. Relationship between painter Dora Carrigton (1893-1932, played by Emma Thompson) and author Lytton Strachey. *****
- My Left Foot 1989. Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing as Irish painter, writer, Christy Brown. *****
- Frida 2002. Selma Hayek plays Frida Kahlo and Alfred Molina is Diego River. (The book, Frida, is amazing but I haven't seen this movie yet.)
- Surviving Picasso 1996. Based on the Ariana Huffington book. Picasso is played by Anthony Hopkins
- Max 2002. Set in troubled post-WWI Germany, this tells the story of an art dealer (John Cusack) and a young, intense and ambitious aspiring painter, Adolf Hitler. *****
- The Horse's Mouth 1958. An old classic movie starring Alec Guinness who plays a crotchety Abstract-Expressionist painter; based on the novel by Joyce Carey. *****
- Pollock 2000 Directed by Ed Harris, who also plays Jackson Pollock. Marcia Gay Harden plays Lee Krasner.*****
- I Shot Andy Warhol 1996. Lili Taylor is great (and quirky) in this movie based on the true story of Valerie Solanas, a radical who attempted to murder Andy Warhol in 1968. *****
- Art School Confidential 2006. A very funny black comedy about art schools. *****
- Untitled 2009. A story of two brothers, a musician and painter. A brilliant and hilarious take on the artworld. *****
- Johnny Mnemonic 1995. A movie by painter, Robert Longo based on William Gibson short story. Longo also did a "Tales from the Crypt" and an R.E.M music video. *****
- Office Killer 1997. A black comedy/horror movie by photographer Cindy Sherman
- Basquiat 1986. A movie about Jean Michelle Basquiat by painter Julian Schnabel *****
- Before Night Falls (Antes Que Anochezca) 2000 By Julian Schanbel about Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990) *****
- The Diving Bell and The Butterfly 2007. Julian Schnabel's latest movie. *****
- Exit Through the Giftshop 2010, a film by Banksy, "the worlds first street art disaster movie" *****
- Spellbound 1945. An Alfred Hitchcock movie - but includes a dream sequence designed by Salvador Dali
- Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry 2012. In film festivals and on itunes and amazon
- Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child 2009 "In 1986 filmmaker Tamra Davis shot one of the only interviews with her friend Jean-Michel Basquiat…" This movie includes beautiful footage of paintings, interviews with artists, art dealers and friends. (available on Netflix instant) *****
- Beautiful Losers 2008. Includes interviews with street artists Shepard Fairey, Margaret Kilgallen, Barry McGee, Mike Mills (directed Thumbsucker and Beginners) etc. (Netflix instant) ****
- The Universe of Keith Haring 2008. Once you get past all the zooms at the beginning this is a really good documentary on Keith Haring. Available on Netfilx instant play. (Netflix instant) ****
- Helvetica 2007 A must see for designers. A movie about typography, graphic design and much more. (Netflix instant) *****
- Sketches of Frank Gehry A documentary on the architect Frank Gehry by his friend, Sidney Pollack. 2006
- Rothko's Rooms 2000. A good visual documentary on Rothko's paintings by the Tate Museum. I especially liked painter Sean Scully's comments. (Netflix instant)***
- Joan Mitchell: Portrait of an Abstract Painter 1993.The includes some remarkable interviews with Abstract Expressionist painter Joan Mitchell. (imovie) *****
- Style Wars 1983. A documentary about New York graffiti in the 70's. *****
- Painters Painting: The New York Art Scene 1940-1970 1973. A must see for painting students. Includes great interviews with Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella etc. (imovie) *****
- The Mystery of Picasso 1956 Pablo Picasso filmed painting. *** These are my personal ratings on the movies I have watched. Some of these movies are more historically accurate than others, some are total fiction, some are more well written, acted or directed but all of these are worth watching for visuals. (Some sources for renting are included in parenthesis.)
- Art:21 Five seasons of videos on contemporary artists (PBS)
- Shepard Fairey on Colbert Report, Jan 15 2009 Creator of the Obey Giant project and the Obama Hope poster
- The Colbert Report, Dec 8, 2010 with Steve Martin, "devoted entirely to the subject of art." Includes visits by several major artists.
- Hasan Elahi on The Colbert Report former SJSU professor.
- Rothko painting in Mad Men.