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.

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...

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!

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.

A small but very well curated museum with an excellent Impressionist exhibit. The Asian art exhibit was also very good. The modern art exhibits were also well done. Definitely worth the very reasonable entrance fee.

We thoroughly enjoyed this museum and it was a super value at $10/$6 adult/senior. There were pieces from many different eras and cultures. We easily spent two hours appreciating the art.

Maybe it's the humanities major in me, but I really enjoyed the Santa Barbara Museum of Art more than the Mission... We came on Sunday afternoon towards the end of our trip. The admission fee for adults are usually $10, but if you have a student id you can get in for $6 :) yay for looking young enough to get college discounts still!! My favorite collections were definitely the Japanese and the Egyptian exhibits. I really admired the skill-based occupations of the time. In the world we live in, mass production takes away the meaning of art and what's special. So looking at the hand made artifacts really call out to a part in my soul (yeah I know, I sound super lame...) I really preferred the artifacts over the more contemporary photographs and painting. But that's all a preference thing, I have nothing against photographs and paints... I just enjoy the sculptures and artifacts at a higher level. My only complaint about this place is that I didn't have enough time to truly enjoy its' beauty. Towards the end of the trip, I felt like time was running out. If I come back to Santa Barbara, this will probably one of the places I check out on the first day so I can spend more time here :)

It’s fair to say this is my favorite museum in Santa Barbara. I was in town for the day visiting from LA and had heard many great things about this museum so decided to see for myself. Parking is easy and there are multiple areas to do it. It’s not very large inside but is two floors filled with beautiful works from all over the world. It’s subdivided into different regions and periods and it’s very easy to spend an hour here looking and reading. Coming from LA it’s way less crowded than I’m used to so that was also a bonus. I would recommend to anyone visiting Santa Barbara or if you’re a fan of art like I am and live within driving distance SB is a wonderful town to plan a day away.

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.

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...

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!

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.

A small but very well curated museum with an excellent Impressionist exhibit. The Asian art exhibit was also very good. The modern art exhibits were also well done. Definitely worth the very reasonable entrance fee.

We thoroughly enjoyed this museum and it was a super value at $10/$6 adult/senior. There were pieces from many different eras and cultures. We easily spent two hours appreciating the art.

Maybe it's the humanities major in me, but I really enjoyed the Santa Barbara Museum of Art more than the Mission... We came on Sunday afternoon towards the end of our trip. The admission fee for adults are usually $10, but if you have a student id you can get in for $6 :) yay for looking young enough to get college discounts still!! My favorite collections were definitely the Japanese and the Egyptian exhibits. I really admired the skill-based occupations of the time. In the world we live in, mass production takes away the meaning of art and what's special. So looking at the hand made artifacts really call out to a part in my soul (yeah I know, I sound super lame...) I really preferred the artifacts over the more contemporary photographs and painting. But that's all a preference thing, I have nothing against photographs and paints... I just enjoy the sculptures and artifacts at a higher level. My only complaint about this place is that I didn't have enough time to truly enjoy its' beauty. Towards the end of the trip, I felt like time was running out. If I come back to Santa Barbara, this will probably one of the places I check out on the first day so I can spend more time here :)

It’s fair to say this is my favorite museum in Santa Barbara. I was in town for the day visiting from LA and had heard many great things about this museum so decided to see for myself. Parking is easy and there are multiple areas to do it. It’s not very large inside but is two floors filled with beautiful works from all over the world. It’s subdivided into different regions and periods and it’s very easy to spend an hour here looking and reading. Coming from LA it’s way less crowded than I’m used to so that was also a bonus. I would recommend to anyone visiting Santa Barbara or if you’re a fan of art like I am and live within driving distance SB is a wonderful town to plan a day away.