Oceanside Museum of Art

On our list of the best activities in San Diego.

A 1934 building by modernist architect Irving Gill anchors Oceanside Museum of Art, expanded in 2005 by architect Frederick Fisher and again in 2008 to its current 22,000 square feet across five galleries, an auditorium and a store. The museum has staged more than 300 exhibitions of Southern California artists since opening in 1997, and its fall 2026 lineup runs a solo show on collective exhaustion alongside a group show tied to the San Diego Art Prize. First Fridays keep the galleries open until 8 p.m., three hours past the museum's normal closing time.