A nice medium size museum worth visiting if youre a local or visiting Santa Barbara. Collection includes traditional and asian art and modern and contemporary sections. Visited early Sept 2021

Really nice selection of artworks. Saw two Monets and a Kandinsky, among other notable artworks. Worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Nice variety. Fine art, technology art, photography, sculptures, etc. The workers felt a little too hovering. Didnt feel like I had privacy.

Admission is $10, not free. Good location, public parking, the art museum is small, but there are various art pieces. Unfortunately, there were three Monet paintings on the website, but there were two, and there were no Chagall paintings. And you cant buy various posts in the gift shop. There was no Monet Post at all. It was disappointing.

Small, Good, worth a quick visit

Relatively impressive permanent collection. Rumored to also have great special exhibits, though they didnt have one at the time I visited.

When I arrived, it was 4:40. They were closing in 20 minutes, but they were still very friendly to let me in. I like it very much because it is clean and tidy, and there are many staff who can see that they are very Care here.From the entrance is the pedestrian street, there are many bars, you can see beautiful lights at night.

So much to see and an exquisite venue. Plus theres a great gift shop. Well worth the price of admission.

Definitely worth visiting and doing a short docent led tour. Lots of beautiful pieces.

We have a membership on the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and get reciprocal access to this museum and many others around the country. This museum is well worth a visit. Not too big, but something of everything and close to State Street shopping and restaurants.

Beautiful Mission! A lot to learn and appreciate . Excelente service!! 😍😍😍

Really liked this museum, even though its small they have a great variety of art. The exhibits are very organized and cohesive. The staff was really nice as well.

I visit other museum stores such at the Lincoln Center NY, New Mexico, San Francisco, Minneapolis, MOMA Los Angeles, Amsterdam & the SBMA rates among the best museum stores. I purchase many interesting and beautiful birthday gifts and Christmas presents at the SBMA, which are always well received. Dont miss shopping at this small but best museum store.

Always love this place, the main exhibition hall is closed but in February it will open with a Van Gogh

Really nice museum. Will be better when fully reopened.

Amazing museum...small but full of great paints and sculptures! You can see Van Goghs, Monets and more!

Nice art from all around the world. Quite small, but the admission is only 5 bucks.

Good place for a visit. Has a good viewing tower as well

Only 2 galleries currently open. Nice, cool, quiet.

Beautiful building, small collection but very interesting. It offers a variety of artifacts from Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Small museum but very outdoorsy, loved their butterfly exhibit.

The interactive Nautical display was well used by my nephews.

Free, nice personnel, and interesting art.

Great little museum with a variety of mediums and styles.

Good art and nice memory

Super Nice!

I was disappointed because they were doing upgrades to the museum and there was only two small rooms open for viewing.

Mostly closed, a limited amount of art on display.

We visited the museum after the web site stated it was open. When we arrived we were told the museum is closed for COVID and renovation work. The museum shop, however, was open. That was misleading and disappointing

The gallery was intriguing to ponder at, however I had wish there was more of it. I came here with 2-3 hours to spare, and only needed less than 1. It was a small space, which did not give me the allotted time to get immersed into the art and really feel some type of way. Friendly and helpful staff. Got to love the contemporary pieces displayed at last exhibit.

There is a nice collection and good visiting exhibitions. The museum is under construction for expansion, so the exhibition space is limited now.

Really cool art

Partly closed...but free

A very small space which is lovely and used heavily for programs. The collection, only a small portion can be exhibited, is significant in representing both established and contemporary artists. There is minimal work done in aiding the casual guest past the most obvious interpretations or insights, security were most helpful in this regard. Unaware of their own materials stale dates.

Really nice, compact art gallery / museum. I wasnt personally a fan of one of the temporary main features when I went, but thats no criticism of the venue itself. Some really interesting paintings on the other hand. Free to go in, and a good gift shop with quality items on sale.

It is a great place in SB

Knowledgeable staff proud of the gallery who were quite helpful. The exhibition was hung with great care. The learning center, a small room located halfway through the exhibition, allows one to explore what influenced the artist and give insight into their creative processes. MCA Santa Barbara is a gem Also, parking is easy. I didnt find it crowded, but should be.

If youve been to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles on Grand Avenue, you have an idea of what to expect from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The experience is just smaller in scale. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has some incredible displays and artists. The atmosphere is other worldly, in that you realize youve left the world of stores, noise and cars and landed in an environment filled with inspiration and color. Theres going to be some extensive remodeling in 2017 on the museum, but its worth a visit. Theres a neat gift store and small, casual restaurant attached at street level. Plan on at least a half day, maybe even a full day. The collections are that extensive.

Under construction at the moment but a beautiful gem of a museum. Great classes for adults and programs for children. Museum shop is fantastic.

It was very cool and cost only 5.00 to enter. Had a few Monet paintings that was very cool. Alot of Asian art as well.

First time visiting with my 3 year old daughter. It was difficult for her at first because she wanted to touch the art. Once we got to the kids section downstairs, she was sold. She loved the artwork and the scavenger hunt. I cannot wait to go again.

One of Santa Barbaras true gems. Ive been going here since I was a child, always a great experience. Excited to see progress on their extensive renovation.

Got an intimate tour of the permanent collection. Dont know if thats​ normal.Very special experience with the amazingly​ human museum staff. Memorable experience!

Very nice art museum. Currently undergoing renovation so some galleries were closed.

There arent too many museums in the santa barbara area to begin with so stopping here is a must if youre visiting. the galleries here are very small but they do have a lot of art to see. the reason i am giving such a low score is because my friend and i got yelled at by a security guard for pointing at some of the work. the security guard belittled us by saying do you know how much the art costs? prior to this run in, we had been having a great time walking around and experiencing the work that was displayed. this security guard ruined the whole experience for us.

We visited the gallery with wordless stories and it was breath taking. I was a bit apprehensive about visiting because we did so on a whim and was hoping it wouldnt be a waste of money but I would have paid twice the entrance fee to go again. Definitely a good stop if youre walking State St.

Was under construction but it was super affordable to see some great peices

We love visiting the Museum on First Thursday’s in Santa Barbara-very festive. Live music 🎶

Nice but under construction right now. Half fee for half museum, fair enough!

Great Museum! The show on until the end of May Out of the Closet is a sculpture exhibit of the human form telling a story. Theres a Rodin, a cyclid and Egyptian stone carved head from 2500bc.! Truly wonderful.

Santa Barbara Museum of Art is impressive! They have a great collection of art of world famous artists displayed. A fantastic museum worth the visit!

This was one of the worst museum experiences Ive ever had. It is pretty weird that they even charge for this as I did not even find the half price student price worth it. Theres no explaination about the construction or that the museum is essentially one little room (which was also cut in half by a private class or tour). In fact we wanted to get our money back but the front desk staff was gone for the day already. We felt completely ripped off! The security guard was nice enough to empathize and direct us to some other art galleries in the area which had 3 times more art than the museum. Save your money and your time on this one. Santa Barbara thinks its a pretty cool town but Ive yet to see why.

Context: their building is being renovated, they chose to remain open at half the price with selected pieces on display. This was huge a disappointment as I came here for their Asian art, but most of the small open section was French/European artists... Half the space was taken by temporary exhibit, and a whole room by a single art piece. I think by trying to satisfy everyone they probably disappointed most visitors, and should have closed during renovations.

Lovely museum. Walking distance to the court house and shopping on State st.

You must come see this amazing little gem hidden in the foothills above Santa Barbara. Me and my gf are in our mid twenties are really enjoyed it.

For how small the museum is it has a great collection. Currently being renovated so it is even smaller than usual.

Its not the biggest museum but it has some great pieces. I also found that the blurbs for each piece were insightful, informative, and interesting. They have a van Gogh, Matisse, and monet if you like impressionism. and they have some other great painters on rotation.

I saw a wondrous John Decker painting of 1933 Venice, CA with Oil Derricks everywhere! It was amazing.A few days later we took CA-17 from the 101 to the PCH above Malibu, which went thru Decker Canyon. It had a Van Gogh and other fine pieces as well. Lovely.

Such a fun place, we did the tour where we got to play the bells which was very relaxing.

Excellent local gem. I highly recommend a visit

If you enjoy photography, Monet, Van Gough, or even Asian art, youre likely going to enjoy this small museum. A perfect fit for adding to an overall visit of Santa Barbara.

Lovely museum with rotating exhibits and a wide variety of antiquities. Plan to spend the day here in order to see it all and eat at their attached restaurant.

Very good exhibits, and knowledgeable docent(s)

Going through massive renovation so the half price tickets is to see a pretty small section of the museum. Will visit again once renovation is complete.

Yes, I like it a lot!A place not to leave out of your program!

Nice local museum with electric offering. Worth a short visit if you have some free time.

Small museum but it was fun to see a painting by, and hear the artist story of Kehinde Wiley, the artist who did Obamas presidential painting. Very nice staff, a nice collection of art.

Its a pretty small museum but is also a pretty good museum. Their gift shop has some really good souvenirs :)

A small but well curated collection. Definitely worth a visit!

Current show; Valeska Soares: Any Moment Now is so timely, its hard to believe! Im sure this show was years in the making - yet given current societal flux, right on target.Keep it up..!

Lots of fun interesting exhibits. Kids love it. Check for free family day

They had a fabulous exhibition on....David Weisner! Superb. Regular featured art was also good. ...Degas...Monet. Lovely staff.

Loved it. Great display and an array of sculptures, paintings, and contemporary thought

Always seem to have many wings closed. Not particularly kid friendly as they had many exhibits on the ground but kids were quickly admonished not to touch. One room full of concrete pillows...maybe its art, but a 4 year olds head sure isnt going to hurt it.

Love this place

Its almost impossible to rate this location currently ss its under renovation and only a portion is accessible (as of August 2017). Its a great smaller museum when all its galleries are open but for the present, its really not worthy of a visit unless you are already a member and want to continue to support it while the renovations are in progress.

Because the main section was closed, that we were looking forward too. there was only one gallery opened. Such a disappointment for us.

Love the art center for our girls.

Anticipating a great renovation here based on the way this museum has been in the past. Call first to see the status of the galleries open.

Dia de Los Muertos event is great fun and a way to appreciate and experience the artistic traditions of our community. There were people of all ages there today, making art and music, enjoying food and access to the museum and art activities free of.charge. Bilingual docent tours and childrens activities! I have been going for 20 years. The museum is a well loved source of educational opportunities to engage with the art and with your own artistic abilities.

Smaller than I thought. One gallery for a special exhibit and two galleries displaying paintings and sculptures. Under construction at the moment. Very friendly docent.

I went here Dec 2016 where they have free admission. The museum has pretty good collection albeit needs a greek/roman art gallery. The museum is located downtown SB. I honestly think its a decent midsize museum which you can explore in an hour.

Very nice museum. Small but enjoyable collection of art. Good gift store.

Enjoyed the different exhibits and tasteful artwork. Added bonus was a very cute Café inside that had a very comfortable feel to it.

Displayed art limited during renovation, but its free and the museum store is good and interesting.

Awesome!

Nice museum. They were doing some renovations so the admission was free of charge. A bit small though.

A beautiful museum. Impressive collections.

Very nice museum. Great to find a Torres Garcia on the permanent collection, beautiful artist from Uruguay.

Had some amazing art!

Quite, cool and filled with amazing art.

Saw Highlights of Permanent Collection yesterday -- some nice Corots, Monets, an interesting Dali, some moderns like Frank Stella. Perfect size for really *seeing* paintings.

Very small, but free during the off season so its good value.

Thanks a lot 5 star !!

Worth the visit. Beautiful gallery in a great location.

Small, but choice. I have seen some excellent exhibits there.

Even in the throes of renovation, it is always lovely to visit. Looking forward to the finished product!

A nice regional museum with a better than expected Asian collection.

Nice place to kill some time. Decent collection.

The collection is really small. The top floor was closed off and there wasnt a lot to see on the ground floor.