San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, usually called SFMOMA, is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States, at 151 3rd Street in the SoMa district of San Francisco. It was the first museum on the West Coast devoted to modern art, and its two contrasting buildings make it worth a look even from the pavement.

The story behind it

The museum opened in 1935 as the San Francisco Museum of Art, and for decades it shared space with other institutions in the city's civic center. In 1995 it moved into a purpose-built home on Third Street, designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta. That building helped anchor the revival of the SoMa neighbourhood as a cultural district.

The museum closed in 2013 for a major expansion by the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, and it reopened in 2016 with far more gallery space. The new wing wraps around the older building, so you can see two very different architectural ideas side by side.

What to look for

• Botta's original building has a facade of dark brick with bands of stone, topped by a tall cylinder with black and white stripes that rises from the centre of the roof.
• Snøhetta's addition has a rippled, pale facade that is often compared to the water and fog of San Francisco Bay, and it looks different as the light changes through the day.
• The street-level spaces are designed to feel open to the city, so look through the glass at the public areas and the art on view even if you do not plan to go in.
• Compare the two buildings from the corner of Third and Howard Streets, where the heavy geometry of the older tower meets the softer lines of the new wing.

Tips for your visit

• Allow an hour or two for a focused visit, or half a day if you want to see the galleries properly. Check current opening hours and ticket information before you go.
• Some ground-floor areas have been open to the public without a ticket, but access can change, so confirm on the museum's website.
• Yerba Buena Gardens, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Museum of the African Diaspora are all within a short walk, so the area works well for a half-day of culture.
• Morning is usually the calmest time to photograph the facade and to walk the galleries.

See it on a quest

The museum is one stop on Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in SoMa, San Francisco, a self-guided mystery walk through the neighbourhood. You reach the building on foot as part of a longer route, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle using what is in front of you. It is a good way to look closely at the architecture and to see the streets around it. The quest is paid, and one ticket covers the whole group. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join.