Reviews of San Jose Museum of Art (Museum)

Rhys Rookard

This museum will delight you! There are numerous excellent exhibits throughout the year with lots of space in which to roam. The docents are helpful or one can go it alone and use written guides for information. The Cafe is in the original museum which I've been told was a post office before that! The food has been consistently fair.I love the museum gift shop which has a variety of artistic items to purchase and an interesting variety of choices within each category.The location is excellent with many kinds of restaurants nearby. The Lite Rail, Theatres, Movies, Bars. etc., are all within walking distance of the museum. Invest a day visiting this San Jose Treasure. Better yet, become a member! No fee if you are a member and certain memberships (not expensive) allow a member to bring a guest for free.

Alexey Solovtsov

Just. Don't. Waste. Time. And. Money. This is a tiny museum with $10 entrance where the number of interesting things in their gift store exceeds the number of interesting things inside the museum. This place literally doesn't deserve to be called "museum".

N. Ganesan.

Meeting place for the Intellectuals

Joe Broughton

It's a small museum, so the price is just right ($10 per adult), and it features local artists. The theme is mostly modern/contemporary. There's a cafe too. Nice way to spend 45-60min in downtown San Jose. Staff is very nice and friendly. Children's group seemed to be having a good time during their tour.

Brenda Calderon

It was nice to kill time when we had nothing else to do but I only went because it is free for college students. I don’t think the museum has had any exhibits that I would pay money to see. It is also a very very small museum. You can easily see it all in about 30 minutes.

Joseph Incatasciato

Small but worth a visit. Good to stop in on your lunch break or if you're passing through town. Changing exhibits an beautiful building.

Daisey Lawrance

It's a good place for quick visit. Not many exhibits though. Presentation is very nice.

Junyeong Sung

Always good to get closed to the Art

Angelina Cano143

Man definitely disappointed. Was expected some cool sculptures and such but it was a big empty building

Bowen Spellman

A great small local museum. The exhibits rotate nicely and the building is very nice and works well for its purpose. Amazing and knowledge staff from the people working the front desk to the docents. Always really pleased with the different art they have each time I go in. The central location is a plus. Only downside is parking is a bit difficult, but it's downtown San Jose so not much can be done about that.

Rimes Rimes

Small, but perfect for a rainy day outing. Easy and fast walk from the parking garage next door. Coffee shop inside with several eateries to spend the afternoon in the plaza

Christina Mack

Intresting exhibit little kids got bored plan to buy them a gift from shop

Jen R

The art was kind of creepy and out there.

Jared Goor

This museum is very much a matter of taste, but my last two visits (spread out), left a bit to desire. I think it skews towards the more avante garde, including grainy jerky vhs recordings as art and a few too many found objects that were just collected rather than made into something unique. I liked a few exhibits, just not enough to keep me there more than an hour. I accept that modern art can be hit or miss, but SJMA has a lower hit rate for me than the De Young or similar museums.

Jeffrey Rudy

The exhibit of Rina Banerjee is outstanding, it's a must see

Kera Wright

Teachers get in free. Enough said!

Tahira Hamdani

Small museum. I would say about an hour or so to see everything. Very affordable and great to visit in the day. Open later on thursdays!

Mayuresh Nazare

A good place but really small. I went here recently.Saw some good exibits. But they are not so intriguing.Must visit though.

Rebecca Ng

Not a must visit place. But it's not too bad if you have free time

Sarah Murphie

Excellent museum. Wonderful art. Very much enjoyed book corner

Lisa Deutsch Harrigan

Lovely museum. Mostly changing exhibits. Nice small food/ coffee spot, too.

Chapparita Torres

My daughter had a fabulous experience learning about the Human Body.

Ashston Barbour

I was expecting a bigger venue and was surprised I got through everything in about 30 minutes. This definitely is not a museum you will spend hours at. Luckily it has a great location where you can do other things after or before. The art from what I understand is cultural for the most part no matter what the exhibit so if that's your thing, You'll love it!

Elmer

Great museum in the heart of San Jose, the exhibitions provide a fresh perspective on contemporary issues.

Mike Haye

Delightfully surprised by the wonderfully curated exhibition on the theme of Walking - from Vietnam to Marches and movement this exhibition was inspirational and well worth my time. I will be back!

Brooks Hornstein

This place is a must see. Amazing exhibits and an incredibly knowledgeable staff makes the a true gem in the heart of darkness which is Silicon Valley.

chilibonkas

We did a field trip here and it was ok. Wish we could have seen more or the freedom to explore the museum after. A bit rushed on the staff.

Joy Butler

Unique exhibits beautifully designed and appealing.

Mark Lucas

This museum has all the basics needed for a legitimate modern art museum: Calder mobile? Check. And y'know, I'm assuming if you're checking outa modern art museum, you know the rest. ;)The museum clean, well-lit, well-ventilated and handicap-accessible with a ramp and elevator that takes you to each floor. Each floor of the museum is utilized, including the basement which houses bathrooms.The museum store is fun to poke around in and you can always find a souvenir to take with you.While the permanent and rotating collections are definitely worth a visit, the museum also hosts events. There are lunch and learns, sometimes with the artists themselves and evening programs.The most poular programs are the community museum hours on at least one Saturday of the month. Museum entry is waived and there are special perfomances in the main hall. These events are family/kid oriented.If you want more adult themes, the Third Thursday of every month features a special afterhours. You can save on the low $5 entry with buy purchasing a membership. In the evening events there's usually a DJ, alcoholic beverages for purchase, special performances, and special interactive drop-in centers. I've had swing lessons and heard string performances at Third Thursdays at the SJMA.The SJMA is also conveniently located in the middle of downtown across from a park, near hotels, dining, and nightlife. If you're in the area, the museum is definitely worth a visit.

Carmen Ayala

Love it love the price of the place love the people that work there wonderful

Gary Girod

Great installations, fair price, friendly staff

Christina Unzen

A nice little stop in San Jose to gaze upon art when unwinding from the huddle and bustle of the city.

Sofia Figueroa

An absolute wonderful experience. Thank you for showcasing so many women in art ❤️

Hamza Mesbahi

Maybe a little small, but overall, I really enjoyed the expositions there. And there are minimal disturbances, which allowed me to connect with the work of art and understand it. Bear in mind, some expos have a "no photos" policy, while some other do allow pictures to be taken. You can, however, carry a blank paper to all expos, as a tool to sketch the piece of art or write you thoughts it. It all depends on the artist. They have student discounts, children, and senior discounts. Don't hesitate to ask, you'll save a few bucks.

Sarahi Lopez

Really great educational for children

Rachael Sass

I want to give this place more stars because I really support art, especially in my city. But our experience was just okay. The museum is very small, but very beautiful on the inside. The architecture is lovely and the flow is nice. Unfortunately, when we went, several of the display rooms were closed for new installations. Which made it even smaller. :( Upstairs, there was a really bizarre exhibit of modern art. It was cool to see something different, and it was very well presented, but it was a bit dark and twisted for my liking. I would love to come back when there's an artist that I like displaying their work.

Mark Roemer

A very nice smaller museum with some wonderful pieces and displays. Unfortunately the day I went about half of the facility was closed for new installations. However they gave me a complimentary return ticket because of it which I truly appreciated.

Jochen Albrecht

Small, modern / postmodern. Really innovative new small exhibitions. There does not seem to be a permanent collection. The curators/ exhibition directors are quite courageous. The only reason for not giving five stars is that if I lived here I would want to return to some favorites- which is not an option here.

samuel hsieh

We arrived a little bit late, almost time to close, so just scan quickly without too much exploring.

x x

Great place to view thought-provoking art: Vietnam war, immigrant Ag labor, water usage. Ansel Adams work came through in 2016 or 17.

Anjani Kumar Tripathi

Visited this place late in the evening. People enjoying their Sunday holiday as usual in this part of the downtown.

Michael Shulman

wonderful local museum with some really interesting exhibits. the docents are amazing and very engaging.

Gilbert Santana

Small museum with two stories, consider as modern art and not really recommend if you have a short time and have other places to visit.

Yushi Liu

Very small place, kind of disappointed but not that bad

Reny Dawn

This place was pretty cool, its admission is really not at all expensive. Its nice and quiet when I came right as they opened. Staff was nice as well.

Kendall K. Le

Those displays are interesting to see.

Walter Bennett

This museum is small. The gift shop is excellent. It is a two storey structure. Has wheelchair accessability. Also has a small cafe, although there is many restaurants in the sarrounding area.

Akash Jhawar

Great place. Art and Culture exhibition. Audio - video tapes available for better exploration.

Amy Wade

Super cool place!! I feel like I'm at state of euphoria when I'm at San José Museum of Art. This has to be an Artists heaven or something of the likes. Lots of new stuff, lots of things to get... groove music ;) definitely going to pay 'em a visit like a dozen times before the year's end. Forget the real world, I'm an Artist!!!

Ken Wahmhoff

Not my cup of tea. But neat.

Stephany Haskins

Went on a field trip with my son's 4th/5th grade class. The tours they have the children provided lots of opportunity for discussion with open-ended questions about the various works of art. We were only there for about 2 hours so didn't get a chance to see everything since part of our time was also spent creating our own art. Lots of wonderful exhibits which displayed a variety of mixed media from photography to water color to textiles to glass to use of protected videos on the wall... lots of 3 dimensionality. Very relaxing and inspiring environment. Super friendly and helpful staff. It was my first visit and I would highly recommend it to others.

Jesús Betancourt

The art is beautiful good place to enjoy yourself.

Elisabeth Ann Stone

Community based exhibits on art with a historical framework. Lovely space. I wish the gift store had more from the actual San Jose museum.

Brandon Hicks

This is a very interesting museum with modern art. It is rather small so you can take your time to enjoy the art works. I will say you need to enjoy modern art as this is not your usual museum with paintings and sculptures. We took the light rail so we did not have to park and it worked out very well.

Shubham Gupta

Galleries are very placed and the public tours are amazing. they have variety of options available at gift shop.

Y Y

I don't have a sense for modern arts.

Lise Shannon

The first Friday of every month is First Friday in the San Jose art district. This means that admission to the San Jose Museum of Art is free from 5 pm to 9 pm on those Fridays. What a bargain -- and a fun, lively, social event.

Sharon Lezama

An eclectic collection of modern art. The exhibits we saw were all tied together by an overarching theme. It is small, although one hall was closed. By chance we saw live performance art, that was a nice surprise. They have a reasonable entry fee and the all staff are knowledgable about the art. They also offer free guided tours.

Cheryl Cardamon

Beautiful works on exhibit!

cyenhung

The worst art museum I have ever been to in the US. No outstanding permanent representative collections. Oversized coffee shop and gift shop make the museum hollow and meaningless. Strongly not recommended.

Terri Cheng

Very great in design.

Maria Hiatt

A fun yoga festival was provided last week with loads activities!

Vijay Gupta

Nice place for art lovers

Kateryna Pod

If you've been to a more or less decent museum, don't waste your time. $10 is nothing, but there's nothing to be seen as well.

Sayak Chakraborti

Really intricate displays by artist Rina Banerjee. Worth a visit if you are in San Jose downtown.

Robert Baeza

I bed there there is a lot of movement in that AREA!! And they are humble and reach out too me with out asking feed me! I am thankful!!!!

Paul Hadfield

Modern art gallery with some thought-provoking exhibitions. Small enough to be easily managed in an afternoon.

Zara Ter-Avetikyan

We went there, because got free tickets from school. Honestly, nothing wow in there. But if you like contemporary art, maybe you will find something interesting for you.

Prabha Rathinasabapathy

Community Day was a treat. We got to see the top notch exhibitions for free. Loved the Vietnamese retrospective, and the walking theme works.

Simran Singh

I loved it. I really enjoyed my resent visit to the art museum. Don't know when was my last visit to any museum. The tour guide was awesome. It was all free. She was informative and interactive. Stuff available there is also amazing. Good for kids n adults to get inspired. My son (7) was super happy there.

tracy townsend

Art is always worth experiencing. Have been here many times and have always left feeling like I needed to see something better after going throughout the building. The staff is enthusiastic and very friendly. Cute cafeteria/coffee shop, beautiful building, close to the parking garage and a fun place to visit. Just always a little disappointing. Yet, I still bring people and will continue to visit after decades of meh. Support the arts. This is a small museum with the best of intentions.

vivian tan

A small but inserting modern and contemporary art museum. Their exhibitions will change during the year. They offer free tour and every 3rd Thursday after 5pm, it’s only $5 to get in.

Alfredo Lee

Nice place for art lovers.Community based exhibits on art with a historical framework. Lovely space.Love this little museum, there's always something Great there.

Jonathan Williams

We visited the San Jose Museum of Art just over a month ago on a Sunday afternoon. I have to say that there were some good exhibits, but the main local artist who's work was on display just did not fit our taste. The art was talentless and it seems like a lot of the collections weren't created from artists with developed talents. There's a difference in talented paintings and art vs "modern" random art made without talent. Some others may enjoy the art but we did not. Not worth our time even. But maybe 25% of the exhibits were good.

Rebecca Corman

The focus here is on modern/contemporary art - but they have a pretty good selection of it. It seems that most of the exhibits are rotating, which is nice for return visits. If you're a student, make sure you bring a student ID - you'll get a pretty good discount.

sree batta

Contemporary art! A fun place to introduce art to kids.

Chong Looi

Worth a visit .. quite small place though!

Petri H

Great relatively compact museum of modern art in the heart of silicon valley. Nice curated displays with fresh views and good taste. Always great to visit and see whats going on.

Stacey King

Docent led tour was excellent

Purushottam Sastry

If one really likes art very much it's worth buying

Sujal Thomas

Compact for a museum but still very very good, they also rotate a lot of the art work. Here are few of my fav works! Definitely worth a try. Pro tip: sign up to get a San Jose public library card to enter this and various other museums for free. Thank me later

Jason Garcia

This museum seemed surprisingly small for the $10 entry fee. I understand they were renovating/setting up some areas, but it seemed to be more than half of the whole museum that was blocked off

Jason Sun

Not much to see. Or maybe I don’t appreciate modern art that much.

Arie Tal

Generic and boring hotel.

Bruce DeWald

Got in here on Free Museum Day (by Smithsonian Institute) and it was a good opportunity to see it. I would give it 5 stars just for that, but it was pretty small so if I had paid I would've been a little disappointed. It looks like their exhibits rotate fairly often though so I think it's still worth a stop depending on what they have on display at the time.

Janice Pontillas

Nice place to take your family or a group of college students to learn about various artist, artistic styles, Modern, Decco, Realism, Baroque, Renaissance, art time periods.

Mark Mavroudis

Always something interesting to see. Recommend taking the docent tour. They're very interactive and explain well.

Rebecca Scott

Great museum

B Sandher

It's free. Nice waste of time.

Tracy Rodriguez

We had a lovely day here. We managed to hit in between exhibits so a part of the museum was closed to us. But they gave a voucher to come back and see the new exhibit for free. So a really good value. It's in a good area to make a day of it. The Tech Museum is nearby as are some really good places to eat. We'll be going back soon.

Asad Salihi

The San Jose Museum of Art is an art museum in Downtown San Jose, California, USA. Founded in 1969, the museum hosts a large permanent collection of West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st century. It is located at Circle of Palms Plaza, off of Plaza de César Chávez. The museum's historic wing was originally designed by architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke and built as the San Jose post office in 1892, then served as the city's library from 1937 to 1969. The building was then converted by The Fine Arts Gallery Association, reopening as the Civic Art Gallery. In 1972 the building was named a California Historical Landmark (#854), and in 1973 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The "New Wing," comprising the majority of the current exhibition space, opened in 1991. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, past exhibitions include Beta Space: Diana Thater; Jose Clemente: Figure Studies; City Limits, City Life; What's Your Angle? and Mark My Word.

Salvador Silva Garcia

It's clean and cheap for the entrybut they don't have to much cool stuff.

Olmedo Correa

Great show and all good.

Derinda Lesher

A wonderful place to see a variety of Art work. Most recently attended the Suffergrette Art Walk and display. Excellent.

Matt Olson

Underrated! Small enough to do in an hour and their rotating exhibits are fascinating.

Ruby Stewart

This place is an amazing place for anyone who lives science and technology. While geared mostly towards children, adults can also enjoy it as well. I brought my son because I knew he'd love it. He's 24. After our trip, he thanked me for letting him feel like a kid again.

Daniel Rodier

Wonderful museum with a focus on modern art. You can get through the whole place in an afternoon and is perfect for dates or family activities. The staff is always very helpful and insightful. There should be some research done before going. There are times when parts of the museum are closed off because a show is being cleared out or moved in. Also, there are some shows that might not be child friendly.

Gloria Li

The Banerjee exhibit was very interesting.

Satoru Ito

Compact but fun museum. Area for kids to do some art work, so good for families. No dedicated parking so find public parking.

VAPA Jeannine

The museum has very friendly exhibits I love how open they are two families and people of all ages. They have a variety of programming that is free that access they have wonderful education programs for our students in the area as well.

Ashot Avetisyan

They should add "Modern" to the name. But even for that they have too few items that can match that description of Art in general. Overall very limited collection, does not worth the time and money spent.

Lara J

Wonderful art museum with beautifully curated exhibits. The current exhibit on Rina Banerjee is incredible.

Bolt and Cat

Silly museum with a few works pulling things through for the museum. Gift shop resembles the museum. The cafe has a few humorous attendants for company. Uplifting experience.

211 MOB

This museum is beautiful and they always have rotating art coming in to view.

Alice Villegas

It was a very interesting experience. I liked many of the exhibitions and i couod really feel the sentiment within their origins.

Avital Meshi

There is always a good exhibition to see here

Abhilash CD

Good place to spend some time with family. Have to find parking in some of the nearby public parking lots.

Ramesh Chitor

Great place for Jazz and Wine lovers

Andrew Trivett

Most exhibits were closed. Only told us after we paid admission. Gave a free coupon to come back when they are open but we are from out of town... Place was underwhelming as an art museum in one of the largest cities in the usa.

Traci Cappiello

This is a lovely, small art museum located in an old post office building in the heart of downtown San Jose. Exhibits rotate regularly and the docents are quite knowledgeable. This also happens to have one of the best gift shops I've ever been to in a museum or elsewhere in the area, with gifts for nearly everyone in all price ranges.

MinhThu VoNgoc

Kinda small with 5 exhibitions usually

Brite Park

small but fully inspiried

Pam Debi

Not much to see this time. New exhibit open soon

Anthea Tan

We were able to get in for free since we are students. We went on a little tour where we discussed about the art and trying to find the meaning behind it. It was really fun.

Jianfa Ou

It had two display during my visit, “other walks, other lines” about how walking ties man to nature; and “Dinh Q LE: True journey is return” about the Vietnam war. It is not well organized comparing to the size. Because Many video compacted with each together. I felt like a huge group of people was chatting behind the war when I watched one of them. Besides, the San Jose Museum of Art doesn’t have many permeated collections. I saw a few hanging in the stairs and the passage in front of the restroom, and most of them are “untitled”, saying the museum does not intend to collect any particular group of artworks. It was an educating visit. But I have seen better.

Chris Keckler

Not the largest art museum, but it is also quite cheap. Definitely worth a visit if you are near, but there are better art museums elsewhere in the bay.

John Rosenstein

Love this little museum, there's always something Great there. Go - Go - Go

Connie James

Great exhibits tour guide did an excellent job. Very diverse arts

Alex Filatau

Nice local museum with cafe and gift shop, obviously. Most often has expositions of some contemporary art, but if you are luck you can get something interesting like photos by Ansel Adams. It's rather small and cozy.

Lydia Nderitu

This is a relatively small museum. There's one exhibit downstairs, a slightly larger exhibit in the first floor, and two exhibits upstairs. Out of all the exhibits, I enjoyed the picture and video displays upstairs about Vietnam. If you like watching videos, you can spend about 20-40 minutes on each exhibit. If not, you could walk the entire museum in under an hour. It sounds like they change their content pretty frequently, so if you're getting in free or discounted, it might be worth going back to see new exhibits as they come and go. Other tips: They will make you check in large bags at the front desk to hold there until you are finished. We found weekend garage parking nearby for $10 flat rate.

Elena Gaillard

A beautiful space, elegant and filled with lovely details. Excellent exhibits. Very nice gift shop. Very well worth the very inexpensive admission $10.

Rajni Shah

This was my second visit to mueseum. I love coming to San Jose to visit museum. I was really impressed by a Korean door entrance made from cloth and frame. What imagination and superb execution.

wallis chriss

Good place for executive experience.

Evi-Lynn Byer Young

Great small musuem! Very helpful staff and we were able to take our 3 small boys there and enjoy the art for about 60 minutes.

Norbert Montano

Its a nice place, focused on modern art, very nice staff and its perfect for family activities

Navdeep Singh Bagga

Great place to be at for an art connoisseur. They also have a cool gift shop.

Vanessa Fregoso

Cool place to visit with family, you can pick up a free art bag (that you must return) and draw while you arethere, it's nice to see kids be inspired. Lots of different art and medias.

don willey

When they have good exhibits, they are great.

Dino Pandya

A gem . Has remarkable artists show their works. A must when in San Jose.

Craig Conroy

Wouldn't call the majority of what they have on display art. Go to Standford, it's free and has a higher quality gallery. Paying for this is questionable.

Jim S.

Facebook Free Fridays. Worth it.

Pablo Rojas

Brought my kids, great time friendly staff

evelyn chu

Would hope there're more collections to see but very nice museum.

gael barrios

While not a large museum, the number of excellent shows we have seen there over the years has made having a membership more than worthwhile. Not to mention their Wednesday luncheon series and Thursday gallery talks. We've learned so much!

Rebecca Burns

Beautiful Pieces and the Event Last night was Fabulous. The food was solo amazing.

Connie Kwan

Yay for community free days! Small but comfortable gallery

Michael Tauriac

Amazing visit, beautiful exhibits, and very affordable.

Kazhikathra Kailasanath

Small museum featuring more of "contemporary" art, so clearly not for everyone. Worth a short visit and has a cafeteria for a quick bite. It is also easy to get to using public transportation. Not a must visit with so many other choices in the Bay area. In San Jose time is better spent at the Tech museum even if you are not a fan of science and technology.