The San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) in Balboa Park is celebrating a very special event this weekend. SDMA and various other major art institutions across the North American continent are joining the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) in commemorating the 10th anniversary year of Art Museum Day on Friday, May 17.
AAMD launched Art Museum Day a decade ago to admire the ways in which art institutions cultivate their communities through engaging and educating their communities. Museums are not just a collection of stuff, according to CNN.com, they hold over “1 billion objects and together they constitute our shared heritages, cultural, historical, scientific, natural.” Museums also play an active role in encouraging and providing opportunities to their visitors of all ages to learn and be inspired by the centuries of artists and the art they have created. Art Museum Day is an opportunity for institutions to give back, that is why the San Diego Museum of Art is providing free admissions to their patrons.
Using the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay, the San Diego Museum of Art and other art museums nationwide are encouraging their guests to share their Art Museum Day experiences via social media. AAMD’s initiative is an addition to the International Council of Museum’s (ICOM) International Museum Day, which is an internationally widespread program that recognizes and embraces all kinds of museums. Last year, the San Diego Museum of Art, alongside 150 other AAMD member art institutions across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, joined in on Art Museum Day.
Ever since the San Diego Museum of Art opened its doors in 1926, their permanent collection has offered art from world-renowned artists. Their first major acquisition being the 1939 purchase of “El Marques de Sofraga” by Francisco Goya. Now, their permanent public collection includes, “Self Portrait, Etching at a Window” by Rembrandt van Rijn, “The Arrest of Christ” by Hieronymus Bosch, “Specter of the Evening” by Salvador Dalí, “Fleurs (Bouguet)” by Henri Matisse and more.
The Museum will be open with FREE general admission from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, May 17. The San Diego Museum of Art is also offering various other opportunities, including, “Art After Hours.” On every Friday, for 5 dollars after 5 p.m., the museum is offering patrons to experience special exhibitions and the Museum’s current open galleries with up to 800 works of art on display from the permanent collection. The Museum is also opening up a new art exhibition, “Art and Empire: The Golden Age of Spain” beginning Saturday, May 18.
