Free Museum Days for Rainy Days in February

San Francisco is nothing short of fun things to do, even in the rain! With a new month comes a fresh lineup of free museum days, plus many of the free additional programs on those days. Take advantage of the rainy weather by exploring some museums you either haven’t visited in a while, or have been meaning to try. Who knows? Some of these ideas might even make for a cute Valentine’s Day date if you turn them into a full-day adventure!

Most San Francisco museums offer free museum days on a weekly or monthly basis; usually to just the permanent galleries (not including special exhibitions that might cost extra). All these museums also participate in Museums for All, which gives free or highly discounted entry to 25+ local museums and cultural centers for EBT or Medi-Cal cardholders. If that doesn’t apply to you, but you still want to take advantage of the free museum days, I listed 7 participating museums below:

The Legion of Honor / de Young Museum

Shopping at the de Young Museum for Museum Store Sunday

The Legion of Honor in Land’s End and their sister location, the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, always offer free admission for Bay Area residents every Saturday. Note: you need to be a resident of one of the 9 Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma), show proof of residency with a DL or postmarked envelope, bring your ID, and reserve your tickets in advance online. Below are the current exhibitions you can view:

• The Legion of Honor:

• Dress Rehearsal: The Art of Theatrical Design (Ends May 11, 2025)

• Celebrating 100 Years at the Legion of Honor (Ends November 2, 2025)

• The de Young Museum: 

• Tamara de Lempicka (Ends February 9, 2025) **Ending soon!!**

• Matisse’s Jazz Unbound (Ends July 6, 2025)

• Leilah Babirye: We Have a History (Ends October 26, 2025)

• About Place: Bay Area Artists from the Svane Gift (Ends November 30, 2025)

Contemporary Painting in Papua New Guinea: Mathias Kauage and His Family (Ends March 15, 2026)

Asian Art Museum

The Asian Art Museum in Civic Center offers Free First Sundays - If you’re attending this upcoming First Sunday, visit their free Ink Painting Workshop and then stick around for In Our Hands: Film Screening and Conversation  before ending with a Lunar New Year Performance by LionDanceMe.. Art exhibitions on view:

• Fukusa (Ends February 3, 2025) **Ending Soon!!**

• Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink (Ends April 7, 2025)

Olafur Eliasson's "One-way colour tunnel"  at SFMOMA

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF MOMA) in Yerba Buena offers free First Thursdays. On view: 

• Consuelo Kanaga: Catch the Spirit (Ends February 9, 2025) **Ending Soon!!**

• Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture (Ends February 18, 2025) **Ending Soon!!**

• Amy Sherald: American Sublime (Ends March 9, 2025)

• When the World Is Watching (Ends April 27, 2025)

• Count Me In (Ends April 27, 2025)

• Unity through Skateboarding (Ends May 4, 2025)

• Table Manners (Ends May 2025)

• 2024 SECA Art Award: Rose D'Amato, Angela Hennessy, Rupy C. Tut (Ends May 26, 2025)

• New Work: Samson Young (Ends June 22, 2025)

• Around Group f.64: Legacies and Counterhistories in Bay Area Photography (Ends July 2025)

Museum of the African Diaspora

The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in Yerba Buena is free every Second Saturday. If you attend this upcoming one, you can view the free performance: Healing Intimacy. On View:

• Cosmic Ceremony (Ends February 2, 2025) **Ending Soon!!**

• Liberatory Living: Protective Interiors and Radical Black Joy (Ends March 2, 2025)

• ‍What We Carry to Set Ourselves Free  (Ends March 2, 2025)

Museum of Craft and Design

Nick Dong: 11 to 88 at the YBCA

The Museum of Craft and Design (MCD) in the Dogpatch offers Pay What You Wish Wednesdays. On View:

• RugLife (Ends April 20, 2025)

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 

The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in Yerba Buena is free every Wednesday and second Sundays . Like SFMOMA, they also offer free admission during Downtown First Thursdays. If you attend, you can take advantage of these free public programs that day: Free Art Workshop: Valentine’s Day Cards, Screening of A Revolution on Canvas, and a  Curator-led Tour of the current exhibition. On view:

• Nicky Nodjoumi: The Personal is Political and Nahid Hagigat: Etched in Time (Ends March 23, 2025)

• The Only Door I Can Open (Opened February 1, 2025) 

There are a plethora of other San Francisco museums out there, so go out and explore!