The Pritzker Center for Photography

One of the first museums to recognize photography as an art form, SFMOMA has more than 17,800 photographic works, dating from the advent of the medium in 1839 to the digital images of today. Deepening and expanding our commitment to photography, the new Pritzker Center for Photography nearly triples the space dedicated to photography, filling the majority of the third floor. Encompassing fifteen thousand square feet, the Pritzker Center is the largest space permanently dedicated to photography in any art museum in the United States. The center includes enhanced permanent collection galleries and new special exhibition galleries, along with a study center and a Photography Learning Lounge.

The print study center gives visiting scholars and students the opportunity for hands-on viewing of prints, drawings, and photographs. The adjacent meeting space promotes collaboration between curators, scholars, artists, teachers, and the public.

Our innovative Photography Learning Lounge lets you experience photography in a whole new way. Through interactive exhibits, you can explore how photography shapes perceptions of California, create a portrait of yourself without showing your face, and more.

Paul Sack Photographic Trust

Paul Sack, a real estate investor, assembled his collection using the criterion that each photograph depict a building that ostensibly could be bought or leased.

Visitors to the Museum can view an ongoing exhibition of selected works from the Paul Sack Photographic Trust collection.

Current Exhibitions

Picturing North Africa

Beginning in the nineteenth century, European perceptions of North Africa (encompassing what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt) were shaped by Orientalism, a problematic discourse that framed non-Western cultures as exotic and rooted in a mythical antiquity. Western artists and writers created romanticized representations of African places and peoples, with publications such as Napoleon Bonaparte’s Description de l’Égypte (Description of Egypt, 1809–29) helping to codify these views.

When photography emerged, early practitioners turned their cameras toward the region. Combining imaginative fantasy with claims of scientific accuracy, they sought to capture and commodify the many architectural feats, ancient monuments, and distinctive topographies for the armchair traveler back home.

Photography was also quickly adopted for political purposes, extending this imperial gaze. Some of the earliest photographic records of British military operations abroad were made during the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). These images anticipated the subsequent “scramble for Africa,” meaning its colonization by European nations. Abstract, often empty of life, and seemingly suspended in time, these photographs of North Africa reveal complex notions of conquest and desire.

This exhibition will be on view on Floor 3 February 21–November 2026, and is included as part of General Admission.