Santa Barbara Museum Of Art

The tour was enjoyable and very helpful. I felt like I was being given a nice and quick art lesson. After the tour I was able to enjoy the other art pieces, recognize names mentioned in the tour, and put them in context. The museum collection is lovely, with mostly western art from the 1800s, and some interesting Asian exhibits, and some modern art. We spent 3 hours here on a hot summer afternoon, learned a lot, and enjoyed every minute of it. It’s the best $10 (entrance fee per person) that we could’ve spent.

We enjoyed our visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art so much we are planning to return! I so loved learning about all the female impressionists! Loved the quote by Berthe Morisot! Definitely worth the visit to know how many impressionists were women - but we did not know that - - - until now!

A small and quiet museum. The collection isn't extensive, but that makes it easier to sit peacefully in front of a Buddha statue for a long time...

I want to start with the kindness that I was met with by the security manager and the front desk manager. They were extremely understanding and even found me later to further apologize. I was fairly upset but the art in the museum, coupled with the warmth of the staff helped alleviate the tension from that one guard. Also, there was a tremendous women in the art station that greeted us with kindness and warmth. She was so great with you daughter. CONTEXT: I had a fairly rough interaction with a young security guard when we first arrived. Our 2.5 year old took off into the gallery when we arrived and I went after her while my husband paid. The security guard very aggressively yelled at me to return to my husband as he was walking up with our entry sticker. I later went to him to just explain that there was no reason to yell and that I had my hands full with my kid. He cut me off by accusing me of allowing my toddler to run in the gallery and saying “you don’t get free access”. I was distraught honestly. It was just a long day as a parent and we wanted to show our daughter the museum. But, even with everything - the surrounding staff made up for the experience. We bought a membership and have full intentions of coming back and supporting our local museum ❤️

Once a year, there is a day when over 30 museums are free in Southern California! We took advantage of that opportunity on Saturday, March 23rd, this year! We really enjoyed checking out the Asian exhibits. I especially recommend taking one of the free tours. We really enjoyed the tour of Chinese and Japanese artifacts because the stories all link back to the history and culture of the countries. There are no famous artists as part of that discussion. It puts a spotlight on the cultural differences between the east and west approaches to art and cultural values! Thursdays 5-8pm are free to locals. Highly recommend a visit!

Family art programs Too! We visited during celebration grand reopening of library. We were Invited to make art collage and enjoyed it! Staff of museum informative and friendly. We did go inside to view collections and found the range of art quite fullfilling.

Got to see a Monet in person here! I was very excited

Beautiful museum with interesting exhibits. Not too big but perfect to see in about 2hrs. Staff was friendly and helpful. A nice way to spend an afternoon if you enjoy art and learning new things. Currently there a number of Asian religious art pieces and some impressionists paintings that are definitely worth the time.

The tour was enjoyable and very helpful. I felt like I was being given a nice and quick art lesson. After the tour I was able to enjoy the other art pieces, recognize names mentioned in the tour, and put them in context. The museum collection is lovely, with mostly western art from the 1800s, and some interesting Asian exhibits, and some modern art. We spent 3 hours here on a hot summer afternoon, learned a lot, and enjoyed every minute of it. It’s the best $10 (entrance fee per person) that we could’ve spent.

We enjoyed our visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art so much we are planning to return! I so loved learning about all the female impressionists! Loved the quote by Berthe Morisot! Definitely worth the visit to know how many impressionists were women - but we did not know that - - - until now!

A small and quiet museum. The collection isn't extensive, but that makes it easier to sit peacefully in front of a Buddha statue for a long time...

I want to start with the kindness that I was met with by the security manager and the front desk manager. They were extremely understanding and even found me later to further apologize. I was fairly upset but the art in the museum, coupled with the warmth of the staff helped alleviate the tension from that one guard. Also, there was a tremendous women in the art station that greeted us with kindness and warmth. She was so great with you daughter. CONTEXT: I had a fairly rough interaction with a young security guard when we first arrived. Our 2.5 year old took off into the gallery when we arrived and I went after her while my husband paid. The security guard very aggressively yelled at me to return to my husband as he was walking up with our entry sticker. I later went to him to just explain that there was no reason to yell and that I had my hands full with my kid. He cut me off by accusing me of allowing my toddler to run in the gallery and saying “you don’t get free access”. I was distraught honestly. It was just a long day as a parent and we wanted to show our daughter the museum. But, even with everything - the surrounding staff made up for the experience. We bought a membership and have full intentions of coming back and supporting our local museum ❤️

Once a year, there is a day when over 30 museums are free in Southern California! We took advantage of that opportunity on Saturday, March 23rd, this year! We really enjoyed checking out the Asian exhibits. I especially recommend taking one of the free tours. We really enjoyed the tour of Chinese and Japanese artifacts because the stories all link back to the history and culture of the countries. There are no famous artists as part of that discussion. It puts a spotlight on the cultural differences between the east and west approaches to art and cultural values! Thursdays 5-8pm are free to locals. Highly recommend a visit!

Family art programs Too! We visited during celebration grand reopening of library. We were Invited to make art collage and enjoyed it! Staff of museum informative and friendly. We did go inside to view collections and found the range of art quite fullfilling.

Got to see a Monet in person here! I was very excited

Beautiful museum with interesting exhibits. Not too big but perfect to see in about 2hrs. Staff was friendly and helpful. A nice way to spend an afternoon if you enjoy art and learning new things. Currently there a number of Asian religious art pieces and some impressionists paintings that are definitely worth the time.