UC Berkeley Art Museum

UC Berkeley Art Museum : The Michelin guide review

Housing one of the largest university art collections in the US, the UC Berkeley Art Museum was born in 1963 when Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), having left Nazi Germany with the aid of two UC professors, donated 45 paintings and $250,000 to the university. After a 1997 inspection showed that its distinctive home (1970, Mario Ciampi, Richard Jorasch and Ronald Wagner) did not meet seismic standards, the museum announced plans for a new building at Oxford and Center Streets near the university's western entrance. In addition to Hofmann's work, the 9,000-piece permanent collection is strong in 20C art, pre-20C European painting, Asian ceramics and painting, and contemporary art and sculpture. The museum also mounts changing exhibitions from university and traveling collections.