The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco have new exhibitions for 2025, including Art of Manga at the de Young and Manet & Morisot at the Legion of Honor. Opening in September, Art of Manga will be the first exhibition in the Americas to explore manga as an art form and will spotlight its influence on global storytelling and its function as social commentary. In October, Manet & Morisot will be the first major exhibition ever dedicated to the pivotal relationship between the French Impressionist painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot; it will serve as the penultimate exhibition in the centennial celebrations of the Legion of Honor 100.
Additional Legion of Honor 100 shows include Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art, the first exhibition to spotlight Thiebaud’s extensive appropriations, virtuosic reinterpretations, and direct copies of famous artworks. Rotations of permanent-collection works on paper will be on view in Printing Color: Chiaroscuro to Screenprint and in Ferlinghetti for San Francisco.
Culminating the centennial exhibitions will be the first major exhibition on the US West Coast dedicated to Yinka Shonibare. This exhibition will be the latest in the Fine Arts Museums’ Contemporary Art Program, which presents the work of living artists in dialogue with the Legion of Honor and de Young’s unique buildings, their location in the Bay Area, and the Fine Arts Museums’ permanent collection.
Works by living artists will also be on view throughout 2025 at the de Young in Golden Gate Park. Opening in March, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm will present more than 250 personal photos by McCartney and offer a behind-the-scenes look into the meteoric rise of Beatlemania. Pioneering artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien’s work, reflecting on political and cultural events, dynamics, and constructs, will go on view in April. In August, Rose B. Simpson will bring two customized cars to Wilsey Court, presented against an expansive geometric installation design that will transform the de Young’s free public space. More information here