Art Galleries and Museums

As readers know, we are new to the area, so we are still in the process of discovering art galleries and museums to visit and enjoy in San Diego. A favorite pastime, when we have the time, is visiting local galleries and museums, as well as when we travel. Over time our tastes have evolved and we now tend to prefer modern and abstract art. We were in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and took some time to visit the Musuem of Modern Art (MOMA), which was terrific - it is well worth the visit if you enjoy contemporary art and are in town.

We are in LA fairly regularly (maybe 2 hours drive from Carlsbad unless you go at rush hour), which has a great collection of galleries and museums (as you may already know). A good place to shop for mostly contemporary art at reasonable prices (well, for the most part, but you can also buy Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler and Motherwell, so 5 figures is not unreasonable) is at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, a collection of warehouses offering more than 20 galleries with a broad range of artists, mediums and prices. Lots of galleries on La Brea, Melrose, and Wilshire, among other major shopping streets. We also get to Laguna Beach occasionally, which has a terrific annual art fair, as well as a good variety of galleries.

In San Diego we have discovered a great gallery in the Cedros District of Solana Beach called Galerie d'Art International, which suits our taste in abstract and contemporary art with an international flare. La Jolla offers a good number of galleries, although most, from what I have seen, is representational/realism and similar to what you find in Laguna Beach and other higher-end tourist destinations. We have yet to get to the galleries in Escondido, which has a very active art association and the California Center for the Arts.

We still have lots to discover, and I would love to hear from other art lovers about favorite galleries and museums in the San Diego area. What are the "must see" places you would recommend to visitors?