The San José Museum of Art sits at 110 South Market St., on Circle of Palms Plaza beside Plaza de César Chávez. It focuses on modern and contemporary art, with an emphasis on West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st centuries and a growing interest in the Pacific Rim.
A post office, a library, then a museum
The museum's historic wing was designed by federal architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke. It was built in 1892 from local Greystone Quarry sandstone as San Jose's main post office, in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The 1906 earthquake damaged its steeple and clock tower. From 1937 to 1969 it was the city library. In 1969 a group of artists and San José State art professors reopened it as the Civic Art Gallery, which was renamed the San Jose Museum of Art in 1974. The building became California Historical Landmark No. 854 in 1972 and joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
A 45,000-square-foot New Wing by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill opened in 1991. After a seismic retrofit, the historic wing reopened in 1997.
The collection
The permanent collection had about 2,600 works by 2019, including pieces by Robert Arneson, Enrique Chagoya, Hung Liu, Louise Nevelson and Alexander Calder. Wikipedia says the museum serves more than 45,000 children a year and is the largest provider of arts education in Santa Clara County.
Hours and tickets
The museum's new hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Adult admission is $20, and seniors 65 and older pay $15. Youth 17 and under, college students and teachers get in free. You don't need a ticket for the store or cafe. Free docent tours run Thursday at 2:30 p.m. and Friday through Sunday at 1 and 2:30 p.m. Upcoming free events include a First Fridays dance party on Nov. 6 and an opening celebration for Irving Norman: Fight for Life on Nov. 13.