SFMOMA to Unveil Complete Transformation of the Renowned Doris and Donald Fisher Collection in April 2026

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (November 10, 2025; Updated March 20, 2026)—On April 18, 2026, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) will unveil a fully reconceived presentation of the renowned Doris and Donald Fisher Collection. Featuring nearly 250 works by 35 artists and spanning approximately 60,000 square feet across four floors of the museum, Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 marks the first complete transformation of the Fisher Collection since it opened to the public as part of SFMOMA’s building expansion in 2016.

The new Fisher Collection Galleries will reveal an ambitious, multi-pronged approach to storytelling, engaging visitors with art and artists through relatable and resonant narratives and experiences. Led by Ted Mann, SFMOMA’s project assistant curator of the Fisher Collection, and Gamynne Guillotte, SFMOMA’s chief education and public engagement officer, and developed through a close collaboration between the museum’s Curatorial, Interpretive Media and Design teams, the reinstallation reflects a compelling new approach to the presentation of modern and contemporary art that emphasizes accessibility across a broad range of audiences and encourages personal reflection and connection to the works on view.

The presentation will offer visitors fresh opportunities to experience beloved works by such notable figures as Ellsworth Kelly, Anselm Kiefer, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol. It will also foster connections with objects that have not previously or rarely been on view, including Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #477: Asymmetrical pyramid with color ink washes superimposed, which was last publicly presented in Chicago in 1986 and is one of seven wall drawings by LeWitt that the museum is realizing as part of the reinstallation. Newly on view are also several works by Alexander Calder, including Star and Crescent (1976), a small mobile made only months before the artist’s death at age 76; Shirin Neshat’s single-channel video Passage (2001), which has not been on view since 2017 and explores experiences of loss, renewal and hope; and two installations by William Kentridge that explore the mechanics of vision, presented in galleries dedicated to his work and designed by the artist’s longtime collaborator, stage and exhibition designer Sabine Theunissen; among other works and installations.

The museum is also partnering with Prime Access Consulting (PAC), a global design firm specializing in creating inclusive and accessible experiences, to help ensure the reimagined Fisher Collection experience is welcoming to the widest possible audience. This includes the installation of tactile museum maps for inclusive and accessible wayfinding, visual descriptions for every artwork, touch objects that replicate select featured works, new seating design, and expanded physical design considerations to support those using wheelchairs or other access devices. Additionally, SFMOMA will open a new space, called the Co-Lab, which will feature hands-on activities for families and people of all ages to encourage play and to further explore themes presented in the galleries focused on works by Calder, Kelly and LeWitt.

For the first time, SFMOMA will also feature a multimedia timeline that captures the development of the Fisher Collection, giving visitors new insight into how the collection was formed and the people who made it possible. Among the fascinating components of the timeline is a book created for Doris and Donald Fisher’s 50th wedding anniversary in 2003 that includes messages from different artists in the collection—many created by hand and reflecting their signature artistic styles. Overall, the reinstallation is guided by experimentation in visitor experience, modeling new approaches that in time can be extended to the whole of the museum.

“The forthcoming presentation of the Fisher Collection will be a revelation in its storytelling about artists, collectors and the social dynamics that inspired and shaped them,” said Christopher Bedford, SFMOMA’s Helen and Charles Schwab Director. “So often displays of modern and contemporary art focus on conceptual and stylistic movements. With Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10, we have upended that model to focus on sharing stories that are compelling, relatable and which capture the enduring power of the works on view. I am immensely grateful to the Fisher family for their incredible support and for giving us the opportunity to experiment and generate new approaches in service to an exceptional visitor experience.”

“The reinstallation of the Fisher Collection galleries reflects the creativity, innovation and energy that has always defined SFMOMA and the broader San Francisco community. As our city emerges from the challenges of recent years, cultural institutions have new opportunities to serve as places of community connection and to provide the inspiration necessary to propel our city forward,” said Robert J. Fisher, on behalf of the Fisher family. “I am thrilled by the visionary thinking and strong emphasis on accessibility that have driven the new presentation of the Fisher Collection, which serves as a gift to San Francisco and an invitation to visitors from the Bay Area and around the world.”

 

Given the scale and depth of the Fisher Collection, each floor will offer a distinct experience:

 

Memory and Matter: Personal and Collective Histories
Floor 6

This floor will feature artists whose work engages with memory and history. At the heart of this installation are galleries dedicated to artists Anselm Kiefer and William Kentridge, whose works use materials and processes to examine the psychic and physical legacies of nationalism and colonialism. Videos of the artists as well as extended contextual timelines and wall texts incorporate the artists’ own words and provide insight into the historical events that shaped their work.

Additionally, galleries on this floor will bring together works by a range of other artists who consider memory at both the individual and communal level, including Magdalena Abakanowicz, Louise Bourgeois, Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol. The selection of works reflects a spectrum of conceptual and technical approaches, from found materials and casts to photographic-based images. To encourage reflection on the themes investigated on this floor, an accompanying gallery will include sitting areas with audio of poetry selected in response to objects on view by such artists as Hanif Abdurraqib, Aria Aber, Franny Choi, Safia Ehillo, Naomi Shihab Nye, Clint Smith and Ocean Vuong.

 

Calder, Kelly, LeWitt: Fundamentals of Form
Floor 5

Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly and Sol LeWitt are the three artists whose work Doris and Donald Fisher collected in the greatest depth, providing SFMOMA with a singular opportunity to present focused surveys of their work. Floor 5 is dedicated to the innovations of these three enduringly influential artists. Although their work emerged in distinct historical contexts, they are united by their engagement with architecture, their embrace of different strategies of seriality and their commitment to opening the autonomous art object to elements of chance or rule-based systems. The installation will feature approximately two dozen works by each artist, inviting visitors to dive deeply into their artistic breakthroughs across a wide range of important works.

Calder, Kelly and LeWitt explored such underlying formal properties as line, color and shape. Leveraging the accessible appeal of those essential artistic building blocks, this floor will also feature the Co-Lab, programmed to support learning and making for adults, families and children. In keeping with this vision, family-friendly labels and vibrant wall and floor treatments throughout the floor will further encourage gathering, relaxing and exploring together among visitors of all ages.

 

Ways of Seeing: Fourteen Artists
Floor 4

This presentation will feature a series of monographic galleries dedicated to 14 artists whose works reflect a variety of mediums, styles and approaches, from abstraction to figuration and from gesture to geometry. Among the featured artists are Dan Flavin, Philip Guston, Roy Lichtenstein, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Elizabeth Murray, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra and Cy Twombly. Through audio, video and written panels that incorporate the artists’ own words, visitors are invited to understand the artists as both innovative creators and as complex people.

This floor will also include the multimedia timeline of the creation of the Fisher Collection that explores the origins of the collection and its journey into the public view. Using archival images, video and texts, the installation will tell the story of Doris and Donald Fisher and their love for art and artists and capture an unprecedented view into the couple’s drive to share their passion for art through this collection.

 

Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big
Floor 3

Unveiled in late December 2025 as an early teaser, this gallery is dedicated to sculptures and models for large-scale projects by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. For over three decades, the husband-and-wife team made the everyday unfamiliar by transforming common objects into giant sculptures and urban monuments in cities around the world. Among the works in this gallery is a scale model of San Francisco’s landmark sculpture, Cupid’s Span (2002). Artworks in the exhibition are accompanied by large-scale photographs and scale diagrams of their public monuments.

 

About the Collectors

Gap founders Doris and Donald Fisher established their collection over the course of many decades, developing a distinct sensibility through their longstanding friendships with artists and direct engagements with museums and galleries. Their holdings reflect their adoration of and connections to many artists, including Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin and Gerhard Richter, and represent important works of American abstraction, American Pop and German art after 1960, in addition to other areas of focus. While the Fisher Collection does not offer a comprehensive overview of the artists central to these movements and periods, it features an exceptional number of significant works by individuals celebrated for their artistic innovations and contributions to art history.

In time, the Fishers sought to place their extensive collection in a public space in their native San Francisco for the enjoyment of the community. Their decades-long history of support for SFMOMA led to the establishment of their partnership with the museum. Since the public display of the Fisher Collection was inaugurated in 2016, it has been a cornerstone of the SFMOMA experience.

 

A Groundbreaking Partnership

In 2009, SFMOMA entered a groundbreaking partnership with the Fisher family to place more than 720 works by 100 artists from the Fisher Collection on long-term loan to the museum.

Initially conceptualized for a 25-year period, the loan period was extended to 100 years with the option to renew in 25-year increments. The partnership met critical goals for both the family and the institution. For Doris and Donald Fisher, the collaboration ensured the fulfillment of their goal to bring the collection onto public view for broad audiences to enjoy and for it to serve as a source of ongoing scholarship. In turn, SFMOMA has been enriched with significant works that the museum would not have otherwise been able to acquire, study and incorporate into its robust range of exhibitions.

The Fishers also established the Fisher Art Foundation to help support the care and presentation of the Fisher Collection. The forthcoming reinstallation is supported by the Foundation, which has allowed SFMOMA to fully execute the museum’s vision for the visitor experience within the collection galleries.

The Fisher Collection exists alongside SFMOMA’s permanent collection of more than 52,000 works, which in the last decade has grown to embrace a broad range of artists across backgrounds, experience and perspective. Works from the Fisher Collection are incorporated into exhibitions throughout the museum, and SFMOMA collection works as well as outside loans are frequently incorporated into the Fisher Collection Galleries. Every 10 years, for six months — or more, at the discretion of the museum — SFMOMA dedicates the Fisher galleries solely to Fisher Collection works, reflecting the singularity of the collection and reinvigorating the experience of those works for new and returning audiences. Together, the Fisher Collection and SFMOMA collection make the museum one of the most significant repositories of postwar and contemporary art in the world.

 

Support

Visionary support for Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 is provided by Fisher Art Foundation. Lead support is provided by Penny S. and James G. Coulter, Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, and Diana Nelson and John Atwater. Presenting support is provided by Dana and Bob Emery. Major support is provided by Katie Hall and Tom Knutsen. Significant support is provided by Concepción S. and Irwin Federman, Alexandria and Kevin Marchetti, and Deborah and Kenneth Novack. Meaningful support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal, Sabrina Buell and Yves Béhar, Nancy and Alan Schatzberg, and Susan Swig.

Visionary support for Co-Lab is provided by Fisher Art Foundation. Major support is provided by Deborah and Kenneth Novack. Meaningful support is provided by Sarah and Jason DiLullo and Jane Kim and Jung Min.

 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

151 Third Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

 

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a thriving cultural center for the Bay Area. Our remarkable collection of painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design and media arts is housed in a LEED Gold-certified building designed by the global architects Snøhetta and Mario Botta. In addition to our seven gallery floors, SFMOMA now offers over 45,000 square feet of free, art-filled public space open to all.

 

Visit sfmoma.org or call 415.357.4000 for more information.

 

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Media Contacts

Alina Sumajin, alina@paveconsult.com, 646.369.2050

Clara Hatcher Baruth, chatcher@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4177

 

Image credits:

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Cupid’s Span, 2002; the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection; © Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; photo: Henrik Kam