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December 2023 by FRANK RAMIREZ
Great selection of gifts, helpful and attentive staff
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June 2023 by Linda Y.
The museum is conveniently in downtown Santa Barbara. I parked in one of the parking structures nearby. I was able to purchase tickets on site. I had ample time to visit the store prior to the opening of the museum.We explored two floors of art. We took our time going from one gallery to the next. I was really looking forward to viewing some Georgia O'Keeffe's but was informed that they were not on display.
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April 2023 by Jami N.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is a jewel of Santa Barbara. With incredible rotating exhibits and their magnificent permanent collections, it is not to be missed! It was amazing to view Joan Tanner's Installation Works and Sculpture- so vibrant and visceral. I also swooned over the Surrealism of Dread Exhibit with exquisite examples of the genre. Staff is friendly and helpful. The building could use a more accessible entrance/signage for ADA, otherwise it's a complete and total delight! So what ART thou waiting for? Get thee to the museum!
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April 2023 by C W.
Was not expecting much from this museum (am from out of town), and was so pleasantly surprised at it! For a small museum, the museum packed a robust show of pre to post impressionistic work from a variety of classic artists. The size of the collection is decent and quite impressive, a classic case of quality over quantity. The depth of work was amazing, lovely really.
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March 2023 by James Baumgarten
Bigger collections than I was expecting and I think i only saw half of the rooms in 90 min. Found free Sunday street parking within three blocks.
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February 2023 by Carol I
On the way up the California coast, not only is the Pacific lovely, but there are towns along the way that are worthwhile. Santa Barbara is a chic town with a lovely regional museum which tries hard to give us a taste of their collection.
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February 2023 by Susannah K.
Disturbing art not fit for families and small children. For a small museum I wished there was more art for the whole family. A while exhibit about dread, including an "artist" who love erotic and an offensive piece with the Pope. Even the interpretation of the Mickey Mouse on Washington was a slam in commercialism. Daily docent art tour at 11:30 am and 1 pm. The only part worth it has Degas and Matisse, plus a number of key art at the entrance, except they were so high up that even with the map it was tough to admire.
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December 2022 by tereza ortega franco
Had a terrible interview Oct/Nov 2022 with Museum Store manager Amy for a no-brainer job. Poor interview skills, intrusive, arrogant, dismissive. Should be better now that complaint was sent to Director.
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December 2022 by Christy C.
Loved the museum and their gift shop and have been going there with my daughter & buying Jewlery and unique gifts there for years. A year or so ago I bought a pair of earrings to go with a pendant from my father, and even I don't usually buy custom jewelry since I worry they might tarnish, especially when it's $40 ( for that price, I can buy something in sterling silver that can be polished easily,) but the sales lady told me they shouldn't tarnish. I started to notice the earrings were fading and I stop wearing them. Finally made a point to bring them to the gift shop and I explained the whole situation. The gentleman helping me was nice but they don't have something identical to replace them, so I thought maybe I can exchange for another design that can also go with the pendant to save me another trip, and he said I could but he might get in trouble. So I said I'll leave my earrings there for them to come up with a solution. This morning I got a call from John from the gift shop asking me to pick up the earrings and contact the Jewlery store directly to resolve the issue because it's been more than a year. When I told him what their staff said the earring wouldn't tarnish at the time of my purchase. Then he said it's been over a year and their staff selling things might not be knowledgable... I said I have lots of less expensive custom Jewlery that lasted decades and this is not the customer service I expected from the art museum. I've been shopping there for many years and I don't think I'd buy from the store if they can't stand by their words. Then he quickly offered me to come back to pick another design. But after what he said and not offering the exchange at the first place, it just doesn't feel right to accept it. To be clear.... Above was an unfinished review from a few years back and the manager might not be there anymore. Like I said, I loved the museum and the gift shop so I hesitated to post this review. But its reminders to finish this review showing up in my inbox repeatedly and I wasn't able to remove it, I decided to have a closure... Probably the longest review I wrote. Thanks for reading it.
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November 2022 by GHH1945
Even though we live in Los Angeles, we are members of the museum and travel with them often. We stopped by and were greeted warmly, saw the new exhibits and had a good day!
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October 2022 by Roy R. P.
Went to the Santa Barbara Museum Of Art yesterday. Bought the ticket in advance online. Buying the ticket online was a very easy process. The Museum Store opens earlier than the museum, so if you get there, as I did, before 11:00am when the museum opens, you can look around in the Museum Store. The museum is very nice although it does seem afflicted with the affliction that some art museums have suffered from recently. Not only is there European and American art most people want to see, there is also "art" most people don't want to see, like recent photographs and modern art. Recent photographs and modern art belong in their own museums where people who want to look at such things can go and look at them. Yesterday when I was at the museum three school groups were touring the museum. The two school groups who were looking at the European and American paintings and sculptures and learning about the art were enthralled by the art. The school group who was looking at the recent photographs and forced to listen to someone talking a bunch of nonsense about the recent photographs all looked like they wished they were somewhere else. There was a little bit of Asian art in a rather dark place. Looked like mostly big carved things. Didn't see any Japanese woodblock prints there. Spoke with several people who worked at the museum. They were all very nice.
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October 2022 by Muge BN
Nice store to find great items, for gift or for yourself.
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October 2022 by pldj m
This museum is not big. Doesn't have enough space to show lots of collection. As soon as you walk into the main hall, full of paintings hanging around the wall, from the top to the bottom, you couldn't enjoy to watch one by one, looks like no organization. This is only one negative thing. They do have many master arts, give yourself at least one and half hours to stay.
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September 2022 by Betty M
This review is specifically about the Museum Gift Shop. This shop is typical of many museums with standard offerings and prices. The review is due to an interaction I witnessed between a couple and the desk employee at about 2 p.m. I was in the shop on the Thursday that has a FREE admission evening at 5 p.m. The young couple inquired, "is the Museum free?" to which the clerk responded, "No, it is $10 which is a bargain. Are you a student? If so, it is cheaper." The couple responded, "no, we're not students." The clerk just shrugged. She did not tell the couple about that evenings free admission or anything else. They walked out disappointed and the clerk had a missed opportunity to introduce the museum to an out of town couple. This was a disservice and should be rectified.
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September 2022 by Jay M.
Smallest museum I've ever been to. It's only two floors with a few different styles. We saw the whole thing in around 30 minutes. I am an artist and love art and only found 2 or 3 paintings to be nice enough to take a picture to remember. I was excited to see this place as I love supporting museums and art, but I was let down here.
