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pressed their noses to glass cases, while couples strolled through galleries on first dates. Docents guided visitors with the kind of warmth that made the museum feel less like an institution and more like a home. e postwar years brought expansion: a west wing in 1966, an east wing in 1974, and a new name in 1978 — e San Diego Museum of Art — reflecting a mission that had grown beyond its original walls. In recent years, the museum has embraced a new era of community connection. Even the Plaza de Panama in front of the building has become a stage, where monumental sculpture invites passersby to encounter art in the open air. A century after its founding, e San Diego Museum of Art remains what it has always been: a landmark, a cultural centerpiece, and an enduring source of inspiration. BILL ABRAMS e building became an instant landmark when it opened as e Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego in 1926. Inside, the galleries were modest but elegant, filled with works that hinted at the museum's future ambitions. Enter Anne and Amy Putnam, sisters of means and conviction, who traced their roots to New England. ey lived in Hillcrest, traveled in a curtain-shrouded limousine, and quietly donated Old Master paintings beginning in the 1930s, including works by El Greco, Goya, Van Dyck, Murillo, and Zurbarán. ey believed San Diego deserved a world-class art museum, and their early gifts of Spanish Renaissance paintings, Asian bronzes, and European decorative arts formed the nucleus of what is now one of the most respected collections on the West Coast. Over the decades, the museum grew through thoughtful stewardship. e Krasner Collection added Spanish Baroque masterpieces, including works by Zurbarán and Ribera. e Edwin Binney 3rd Collection expanded the museum's holdings across continents and centuries, offering visitors a glimpse into the spiritual and artistic traditions of India, Nepal, and Southeast Asia. Still, the museum's early decades were shaped not only by generous patrons and a growing collection, but by crisis. During World War II, the Navy converted the building into a hospital, forcing the museum into temporary quarters in Mission Hills. By the 1950s, the museum had become a gathering place for artists, architects, teachers, and curious wanderers. Children on field trips @ranchandcoast RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2026 55 Fine Arts Gallery and Plaza de Panama with the Arch of the Future during the California Pacific International Exposition, 1935 SDMA: PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF ART CALIFORNIA PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION: PHOTO COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO HISTORY CENTER