John Muir

Explore and learn more about California’s environment, history, art and people at The Oakland Museum of California free first Sundays.

The museum has permanent Art, History, and Natural Sciences Galleries along with special exhibits. Note that the Natural Sciences Gallery is currently under renovation and will reopen Spring 2012.

The Art Collection features over 70,000 works from the early 1800s to the present that are by California artists. The collection includes California landscape paintings from the 1850s to the 1880s; Gold Rush era artwork; furniture and decorative arts from the Arts and Crafts period; figurative painting and sculpture; California ceramics and jewelry.

The new Gallery of California Art includes one of the largest and most comprehensive holdings of California art in the world. The upgraded lighting and wall systems create brighter, more welcoming, flexible spaces. Color is a new element in the Gallery; artworks are dramatically emphasized on walls of various hues.

The History Department’s collections are in photography; California native baskets and other material; Gold Rush era artifacts; and material that relates to California technology, agriculture, business and labor, domestic life, and significant events. For nearly forty years, the Museum’s Gallery of California History has enabled generations of visitors to explore major events and trends that have shaped California history.

Explore the legacy of John Muir’s life and how he continues to influence our relationship with the natural world in the first-ever museum exhibition of its kind, A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir’s Journey.

Told through collections of art, history, and natural science, interactive digital technology, and select loans-journals, manuscripts, and original drawings. Through interactive, multisensory displays and digital mash-ups, A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir’s Journey simulates many of Muir’s explorations including his trek from Yosemite to Mount Whitney, and even his night spent in a hollow giant sequoia as the forest burned around him.

The exhibit, A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir’s Journey, runs through January 22, 2012.

In the afternoon tour the building with members of the Museum’s Council on Architecture at 1:00, take docent-led tours of the Art Gallery at 2:00 and the History Gallery at 3:00.

Arrive early, admission is free; however, tickets are required (first come first served basis). Free First Sundays are open to all Bay Area visitors.

Parking: enter the Museum garage entrance on Oak Street between 10th and 12th streets. Parking fees are $2.50/hour for the public, $1/hour for Museum visitors with validation. Bring your ticket to the Ticketing booth on Level 2 for validation.

The Museum is located one block from the Lake Merritt BART station (between 8th and 9th streets at Oak Street).

Oakland Museum of California
1000 Oak Street, 94607
888-625-6873

First Sunday of the month
11:00 am to 5:00 pm

Closed Monday and Tuesday; also, closed New Year’s Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.