Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

At MCASD, art happens here—and now. The collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego includes more than 5,700 works created after 1950 in all formats and mediums, including painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, video, and installation. Founded by artists in 1941 as the La Jolla Art Center, the Museum continues to emphasize the art of today, while its own history informs the collection’s embrace of historical artworks, many of which have been donated by longtime patrons.   

85 years in the making, the collection reflects the vision of the artists represented here, as well as generations of MCASD staff, collectors, and supporters who shaped the Museum. The time period covered by the Museum’s collection captures artistic innovations that have unfolded since the rise of Abstract Expressionism, with an emphasis on abstraction as it evolved in the Americas and Europe. The distilled aesthetic of Minimalism—and particularly, the movement’s west-coast incarnation, Light and Space—imbues many acquisitions, reflecting the era in which the institution first declared its contemporary focus. Pop, Border art, and Latin American art represent additional collection strengths.

MCASD’s collection recounts art histories of the recent past, of the Californias and broader West Coast, and of the Museum itself. Located less than 30 miles from the international border with Mexico, MCASD and its collection are also shaped by the cultural exchanges, perspectives, and traditions that define this region. In the 1980s, the Museum began to devote sustained collecting attention to artists from Tijuana and Baja California.

The seaside Edwards Sculpture Garden features artworks from the Museum’s collection and an array of specimen cactus, palms, and accent shrubs dating back to the original 1930s coastal garden.