Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in Golden Gate Park and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco and one of the largest art museums in California.

With a total value of over $1 billion, the permanent collection of the Fine Arts Museums is organized into six areas, each with a curatorial staff. There are 150,000 objects in the permanent collection, of which 90 percent are digitally photographed and catalogued, and about 3,000 objects are on view at any one time.

Unlike most other major art museums, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco do not have a large endowment to draw upon. As of June 2011, the endowment amounted to $120 million. The museums operate on an annual budget of about $55 million, out of which the majority is funded by membership dues, ticket sales, donations and purchases in its stores as well as contributed revenue (from philanthropic contributions and grants). They are are run in a private-public partnership with the city of San Francisco, which owns the two museum buildings and covers about 23 percent of their operating expenses in the form of security guards and insurance premiums. In the fiscal year of 2012, the museum drew nearly 1.6 million visitors.

External links

• Official Website