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San Francisco Art Galleries in 2026: First Thursday, Where to Go, and What Has Closed

The San Francisco gallery map changed in 2025 and 2026. Where First Thursday still happens, which galleries are open, current shows and their closing dates, and the galleries that have closed or moved.

By Bill BelcaminoUpdated November 1, 20263 min read
Visitors exploring an art installation

San Francisco’s gallery map has changed fast. Since late 2025 a run of well-known galleries has closed, the downtown cluster around 49 Geary Street has thinned, and the energy has moved to Dogpatch, Fort Mason and a revived art walk in the Tenderloin. This guide is where to go now, with current shows and their closing dates, and it links every closure to our closure tracker.

The short version: for a night out, the First Thursday art walk in the Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill, 6–9pm. For the most galleries in one building, Minnesota Street Project in Dogpatch. For free museum-scale shows, YBCA on a Wednesday.

First Thursday in 2026

The First Thursday that is active in 2026 is the SF First Thursdays art walk in the Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill: the first Thursday of every month, 6 to 9pm, with about two dozen regular venues and a handful of rotating ones, among them Modern Eden, the Bob Mizer Museum, KnK Contemporary, Ryan Graff Contemporary, Swim Gallery and TENDESF. The SF First Thursdays site lists the next walk as Thursday 5 November 2026, 6–9pm (the October walk was Thursday 1 October). Check the site or @sffirstthursdays on Instagram for the map before going.

SF First Thursdays: map and venues

The older downtown First Thursday, centred on 49 Geary Street, is a different matter. The San Francisco Art Dealers Association no longer lists it on its site, and several of its galleries have gone: Haines moved to Fort Mason in 2022 and Scott Nichols left the city in 2019. Check a gallery’s own page before assuming it is open late. Don’t confuse it with Downtown First Thursdays on 2nd Street, which is a street party, not a gallery walk.

Where to Go Now

Minnesota Street Project, Dogpatch

The densest place in the city to see commercial galleries: many of them share one converted warehouse at 1275 Minnesota Street. It has lost Altman Siegel, Anglim/Trimble and Jack Fischer since late 2025, but galleries including Casemore, Jenkins Johnson, Hashimoto Contemporary, Eleanor Harwood, Themes + Projects, Municipal Bonds and Nancy Toomey are there, with a new round of shows opening on 7 November. Minnesota Street Project itself is free to visit.

Fort Mason

Haines Gallery is in Building C, and SF Camerawork, which announced it was closing in August 2026 and then reopened on 9 September under a new board, is in Building A; its annual survey, FORECAST 2026, has an opening reception on Saturday 21 November, 5–8pm.

Downtown and Chinatown

Fraenkel Gallery at 49 Geary is still the city’s essential photography gallery. Jessica Silverman is on Grant Avenue at the edge of Chinatown, Gallery Wendi Norris on Jackson Street, and Berggruen Gallery on Hawthorne Street near SFMOMA.

Free, Museum-Scale Shows

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ galleries are free every Wednesday. The Museum of the African Diaspora is free on the second Saturday of the month, and reopened on 30 September with its fall shows, including Dewey Crumpler: Sonic Lineages across all three floors (through 30 May 2027). The San Francisco Arts Commission shows work at its Main Gallery in the War Memorial Veterans Building and in City Hall.

Current Shows and When They Close

41 shows on now or announced, from Dogpatch to Fort Mason to Civic Center. Dates are from each gallery’s or museum’s own exhibition page, last checked 1 November 2026; the list updates itself, and a show drops off the day after it closes.

Exhibitions Ending Soon

ShowWhereWhen
An Illustrated History of the PresentSandow BirkCatharine Clark GalleryEnds Sat Nov 7 · 5 days left
250 Years, Indigenous FuturesVictoria Grace Canby, Jordan Ann Craig, Sky Hopinka, Brad Kahlhamer, Terran Last Gun, Jamie Okuma, Wendy Red Star, Keith SecolaHaines Gallery, Fort MasonMarinaEnds Sat Nov 7 · 5 days left
AssemblageRaymond MeeksCasemore Gallery (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchEnds Sat Nov 14 · 12 days left
Layla and MajnunSeyed AlaviThe San Francisco Arts Education Project (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchEnds Sat Nov 14 · 12 days left
Moving San Francisco: Views from the SFMTA Photo Archive 1903 - NowSFAC Galleries - Art at City HallCivic CenterEnds Wed Nov 25 · 23 days left
Views from the SFMTA Photo ArchiveSFAC Galleries at Cafe ValorCivic CenterEnds Wed Nov 25 · 23 days left
Self-PortraitsAndrea HigginsHosfelt GalleryEnds Wed Nov 25 · 23 days left
Errant GeometriesBeto de VolderHosfelt GalleryEnds Wed Nov 25 · 23 days left
Tangled Web: Weaving as a Conceptual PracticeGroup showHosfelt GalleryEnds Wed Nov 25 · 23 days left
Backwoods Boys: The Monstrous MasculineCarter SmithBob Mizer Foundation (Bob Mizer Museum), 920 Larkin StTenderloinEnds Sat Nov 28 · 26 days left
For Your AmusementMartin MalvarBass & Reiner (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchEnds Sat Nov 28 · 26 days left
Painted PotsNina ZurierEt al.MissionEnds Sun Nov 29 · 27 days left
Knifing Down the Black LedgesJamie EmerickEt al.MissionEnds Sun Nov 29 · 27 days left
Calling All Cats!Dorian ReidMuseum of the African DiasporaSoMaEnds Sun Dec 6 · 34 days left
Contemporary German Painting @Christie'sGroup show curated by Todd HosfeltHosfelt Gallery at Christie's, 49 Geary StDowntownEnds Fri Dec 11 · 39 days left
Lasting Joy: Asawa Family SelectionsRuth Asawa (Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc.)Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc. (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchEnds Wed Dec 16 · 44 days left
Wake Up EverybodyDavid DriskellJenkins Johnson Gallery (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchEnds Sat Dec 19 · 47 days left
A Verb Meaning to Wash One's Wounds in an OceanZedekiah Gonsalves SchildSlash (Minnesota Street Project, 1150 25th St)DogpatchEnds Sat Dec 19 · 47 days left
Soft ShellGaHee ParkJessica Silverman (ground floor)ChinatownEnds Sat Dec 19 · 47 days left
Swimming in the Pool of MemoryChelsea Ryoko WongJessica Silverman (upstairs)ChinatownEnds Sat Dec 19 · 47 days left
ContactRobert AdamsFraenkel GalleryDowntownEnds Sat Dec 19 · 47 days left
Behind the CurtainGaHee ParkYerba Buena Center for the ArtsSoMaEnds Sun Jan 3 · 62 days left
Recent Nocturnes in the GloamingStephen HannockBerggruen GallerySoMaEnds Thu Jan 7 · 66 days left

On Now, Closing Later

ShowWhereWhen
Excavating Uranus, A Psalm for Nyota UhuraSFAC Main GalleryCivic CenterEnds Sat Jan 30 · 89 days left
The Body PoliticDread ScottYerba Buena Center for the ArtsSoMaEnds Sun Jan 31 · 90 days left
Prototypes and ProvocationsRael San FratelloYerba Buena Center for the ArtsSoMaEnds Sun Jan 31 · 90 days left
Treasures of the Pharaohsde Young MuseumEnds Sun Jan 31 · 90 days left
Sideways GlanceAlexa Burrell, Sienna Freeman, Barbara Hammer, Daviel ShySlash (Minnesota Street Project, 1150 25th St)DogpatchEnds Sat Feb 27 · 117 days left
Sonic LineagesDewey CrumplerMuseum of the African Diaspora (all three floors)SoMaEnds Sun May 30 · 209 days left
After the Island: Ornament and Ceramic Practice in the Jamaican DiasporaPJ Anderson, Jacqueline Bishop and Sharon NorwoodMuseum of the African DiasporaSoMaEnds Sun May 30 · 209 days left

Opening Soon

ShowWhereWhen
Rainbow Thicket GlareChris NatropNancy Toomey Fine Art (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchOpens Nov 4, through Dec 19
Fine TunerKarla KnightGallery Wendi NorrisJackson SquareOpens Nov 5, through Dec 23
Death by WaterJacob HashimotoBerggruen GallerySoMaOpens Nov 5, through Jan 7
ArchetypesChuck SperryHarman Projects (Hashimoto Contemporary), Minnesota Street ProjectDogpatchOpens Nov 7, through Nov 28
Highly LikelyMary LaiEleanor Harwood Gallery (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchOpens Nov 7, through Dec 19
Conversations in ClayLen Carella and Malinda ReichThemes + Projects (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchOpens Nov 7, through Dec 19
PassingFelix ButterwickMunicipal Bonds (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchOpens Nov 7, through Dec 23
Toward BiomorphismNathan Dilworth, Fritz Horstman and Yvonne MouserMunicipal Bonds (Minnesota Street Project)DogpatchOpens Nov 7, through Dec 23
Invaders: Vallejo, Food and the Making of Californiadi Rosa SF (Minnesota Street Project, 1150 25th St)DogpatchOpens Nov 7, through Feb 6
New WorkDeborah ButterfieldHaines Gallery, Fort MasonMarinaOpens Nov 13, through Jan 9
Censorship in the 1950sBob Mizer Foundation (Bob Mizer Museum), 920 Larkin StTenderloinOpens Dec 3, through Feb 27
The Light We Carry ForwardTahirah RasheedMuseum of the African Diaspora (lobby)SoMaOpens Dec 16, through Mar 7

Dates come from each gallery's or museum's own exhibition page and were checked on the date shown at the top of this guide. Shows drop off this list automatically the day after they close.

What Has Closed or Moved

These are the galleries people still look for. Each link goes to the closure record, with the date and the evidence.

Also worth knowing: the Contemporary Jewish Museum has been temporarily closed since December 2024, and the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts closed in January 2026. We will add them to the tracker if either closure becomes permanent.

More: the directory of galleries and museums, free museum days and Art & Culture events.

Correction, 1 October 2026: this guide gave 4 October as the closing date of SF Camerawork’s TAPE UP: The Members Show. SF Camerawork’s own site gives 25 October 2026.

Checked on 1 November 2026 against each gallery’s and museum’s own exhibition page (including Minnesota Street Project’s, SF Camerawork’s, YBCA’s, MoAD’s and the San Francisco Arts Commission’s) and sffirstthursdays.org. Closures and moves are verified against the SF Treasurer business register by address. This list is re-checked every two weeks.

Questions People Ask About San Francisco Art Galleries in 2026: First Thursday, Where to Go, and What Has Closed

Is First Thursday still happening in San Francisco?

Yes, in the Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill: the SF First Thursdays art walk runs from 6 to 9pm on the first Thursday of each month, with about two dozen regular venues. The older downtown First Thursday centred on 49 Geary Street has no current listing from its organizer, and several of its galleries have closed or moved.

Where are the most art galleries in San Francisco?

Minnesota Street Project at 1275 Minnesota Street in Dogpatch, which houses many galleries under one roof. It has lost several tenants since late 2025, but it is still the densest place in the city to see commercial galleries.

Which San Francisco galleries have closed?

Since 2025: Altman Siegel, Anglim/Trimble and Jack Fischer at Minnesota Street Project, Rena Bransten Gallery, Ratio 3, Pier 24 Photography and KADIST’s San Francisco space. Haines Gallery moved to Fort Mason. Our closure tracker has the dates and evidence for each.

Are San Francisco art galleries free?

Commercial galleries generally do not charge admission, but most do not say so on their websites, so we do not state it for each one. Among nonprofits, YBCA’s galleries are free every Wednesday and the Museum of the African Diaspora is free on the second Saturday of the month.

More to Explore

Happening Soon

Places to Check Out

Cite this page: Project SF, “San Francisco Art Galleries in 2026: First Thursday, Where to Go, and What Has Closed”, projectsf.com/guides/san-francisco-art-galleries-first-thursday/ (updated ).