They still have cardamom coffee & thats all that really matters. [Just kidding.] I love that they dedicated the largest space to a local WOC, artist residing in Richmond. Masks are required! Some areas are still being built out/under construction. Rad experience.

A beautiful art museum with a diverse and expansive collection on display. This was the first art museum I have ever been to, and it was a culturally significant experience. Price of admission isnt cheap but definitely worth for viewing all the galleries. Students get in free too.

This is a great art museum, housing some of the finest pieces across centuries. They have acrylic and oil paintings from the 1600s and also paintings and items from Science which talk about quantum theory. Alongside they also had a display of minimalist design and craft. It was a nice experience. Their gift shop is pretty good too. Lots of fun things to get.A fun library section too with the cutest furniture.

Quintessential Berkeley museum. Saw feminists, historical Buddhas, and sketches. Good exposure on varied perspectives.

Excellent smallish art museum with extremely well curated shows, we did not get to see a film but were extremely satisfied with our afternoon gazing upon beauty and curiosities

Kind of pricey for general admission for what it is, but free to students. A nice place for students to hang out. Café Babette is lovely with an amazing view, airy architecture with pretty plants, and consistently delicious desserts. Café Babettes vibes are impeccable. In the basement there are usually Kapla blocks which are fun to build with for all ages. The museum rotates art exhibits and they are typically thought provoking and engaging.

Great place for kids/toddlers! There is a reading nook downstairs where they have a small collection of books. In the same room there are building blocks which are also neat. From 2-7, they usually host an art lab where they have pens/markers/glue/stamps. All of this for free!

There is a wonderful exhibit of quilts by Rosie Lee Thompson up right now!

Lovely building. Interesting and diverse collection. When we were there they had some art making going on as well in a nice open studio space downstairs. The cafe on the top floor had a nice selection of coffee, teas and snacks.

An amazing museum with eclectic exhibitions that surprise, delight, and educate. Loved the Martin Wong exhibition that closes today! $12 general admission, but free to UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff AND 18 and under + one adult. Check out the interactive art lab, Babette cafe on the second floor for tasty meals and/or coffee and pastries, and the museum shop.

When I was there, they did not have many exhibits open, and the exhibits on at the time were not very interesting so I did not fee like it was worth the $12 admission for non students. There is a nice little cafe here where you can sit and people watch at the window. The architecture and the interior of the building is pretty cool. There is a small gift shop you can visit without paying admission and they screen film classics.

Very small exhibitions right now. Nice space but not enough art!

The museum is not as big as MoMAs, they have few floors. Yet, I loved what they have. When I visited, I saw art installations by Ugo Randinone (clowns) and other artists works. I liked it a lot. They also have some beautiful Indian artworks.There is a room where you can sit and try your own art and they provide basic art materials for free. If you are in Berkeley, a must visit place.

Ugh, elitist art environment, not kid friendly. Liked exhibit but frustrated by atmosphere and total lack of guide. Employees chatted with each other when we would have liked guidance about what there was to see.

Great contemporary/modern art here. Lots of beautiful space. Berkeley really shows its Leftist roots here.

BAMPFA is a favorite destination for art - and amazing curation and presentation of cinema!

Wonderful exhibit of quilts and extremely glad to see art again

New art museum.. amazing seeing how good they arrange presentation of arts..

Great modern art museum. Definitely check them out if youre in the area. There are a lot of great museums in the area, but this one is on the smaller side so you dont get too exhausted walking through the galleries.

Since its remodel, BAMPF has elevated its permanent and rotating exhibits with a beautiful space worthy of date nights or during Berkeley visits. The collection ranged from science-influenced a la Calder to photography, classical portraits, and a rotating exhibit. Food and even a study area is available.Admission is free for Berkeley students and around $13 for adults

Great museum. Got lucky it was their free night at the museum.

I came as a guest of a member. Ill go back to take in a movie. They have quite a wide collection of those. We saw art and music.Excelente place for a date, platonic or otherwise.

Great museum! Love the films too!

We had bridal shower here at their Babette Cafe. It was not a big venue but cozy , unique and friendly place. Awesome services make us feel warm welcome !!! Definitely worth you to try.

There is an impressive number of special exhibitions here. The building also houses a cafe and the Pacific Film Archive.

Lovely building in a great location. There are numerous and wonderful galleries here!

Great source of inspiration and peace.

Expert guided tour of Tibetan and Asian art depicting female themes through 20+ centuries.

Always something interesting is happening. New personal favorites were discovered here. This time I was thoroughly captivated by the work of Martin Wong.

Nice art work and nice staff.

Amazing art and interesting history

A great date place

Great place. Small so quick to go through.

It did not see much.

Nice museum worth visiting. Gift shop was nice too.

I didnt know what was going on 🤷‍♂️

18th century silk paintings and related art was excellent. All exhibits were organized and thematically displayed. It made things accessible. They have attempted to make it handicap accessible, but you will need to ask for lots of assistance.

Great museum!

My cousin and I saw this museum while out walking and decided to try it out. It was housed in a beautiful modern building. Inside, the modern theme continued and it was in itself something of an art installation. The exhibits were very interesting. There was a photographic exhibit that was most engaging and a small but fantastic expatriate Tibetan art exhibit. I only had a couple of hours to spare there but I would have had more time. It was quite the place.

Wonderful paintings. I was really amazed on the color and texture.

One of my favorite places to go. There is always an interesting exhibition, and usually a good film in the very comfortably banked theater. Kids seem to love it. Lots of great food abounds.

The art here is varied and yet tied together in an aspect of self expression. Which in fact, makes this a good place to visit and observe the well put together exhibits. However, the transitions from one room to another, from the main entrance, seems awkward. The massive space on the left with the small walkway to the gift shop is both over and underwhelming. Other than that, great place!

2 galleries were closed today for renovation, but it was still a great experience! I went with a friend who is a berkeley student, so our admission was free. A dance practice was being held in the auditorium near the entrance, for a series of dance-focused performances/talks. I believe there are more events in the series planned for the near future, so check the schedule of the museum if youre interested.

What a Berkeley gem! A wonderful art museum, small and not overwhelming.Great exhibits with graduate students giving docent tours. Wonderful films , with one of the largest film archives in the nation. Its close to BART and even has a cafe with delicious food prepared by 2 local chefs. This is a must!!!!

I went to the theatre to see the films of David Lynch. The chairs are uncomfortable. Theres no food or drinks. The theatre was hot and the bathrooms are down 2 flights of stairs from the theatre. The particular 35mm print I saw was awful quality and think they should have shown the DVD instead. This isnt a good movie going experience place. I wont go back until theyve reworked it.

I believe the actual name for this venue is the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive or BAMPFA for short. I love to come to this place with my daughter and attend their free art lab. Though their supplies can be limited we have fun bringing our own paper and using the space to complete our own projects. if a child just wants to come and see what they can make with what is readily available they can still have plenty of fun. Between the markers, stamps, colored pencils, glue, and more there is plenty of fun to be had. Wow I have not attended one of their film showings it is quite impressive when they go about doing. The newly renovated building has a huge screen on its side where movies are often played. They closed off the street and people either come with their own seating or are able to just casually passed through and take in the movie standing or otherwise. They also have a reading round table for children eight and up though I have taken my daughter there when she was just six so she could follow along with the book and hear other children read. All in all it is a great family atmosphere offering many different activities from music, to art making, different installations, and films.

Currently showing hippie modernism.. very cool

It is a small museum with a changing collection of painting, sculpture and video. If you are looking for the work of famous artists, this is not the place; but if you are interested in a range of contemporary art, you will find it interesting. The Pacific Film Archive has a very good, smallish theater with reasonable sound. The selection of film is often done with UC Berkeley Professors and they will often give a short informative talk before the film, which I found very informative and added to my viewing pleasure.

Chill place. Free entrance for Cal students.

I just drowned in what there was to offer as I had only been to the new Museum once before but only for a short one. Sure, yes, its concrete and gargantuan and not entirely appealing in that sense,and is not the Uni Art Museum I knew for so long, and you can nearly get lost with all the exhibitions and floors, but it was intense to see works I hadnt seen before and just when I thought I was seeing an exhibit from a period of time I didnt care much about, I saw pieces in it that were and are spot on and totally relevant to some of the artistic and poetic influences I have for today!!!And I didnt even get to the Pacific Film Archive!

Lovely architecture,

Lee Young Jun PEN ARPen Art(General Remarks)Infinity of lines and dots have symbolism.  Such symbolism is ever changing according to the spirit’s depth.  All works are kaleidoscopic; they are usually composed of indescribable expressions.  Therefore, art’s depth also can be said to be unlimited.  Is pen art’s depth also infinite?  In other words, do the lines and dots flowing from the nib of a pen have an artistic qualification?  In this respect, it is worth thinking deeply.  Pen art begins from an essence of nature’s fundamental values.  From the standpoint of value, or color, a harmony of black and white is essential in nature.  As it is impossible to see any color in darkness, distinguishing color is an essential role of light.  That is why the soul is drawn to light.  Whiteness, or light is a spiritual reflection of the soul while blackness, or darkness is a reality of life on earth.  As the color green is an essential color of vegetation, burnt charcoal is an earthy color that will stay near black.  Blackness is heterogeneous and may be hostile to life.  If blackness belongs to the essence of nature, it also may be said to represent the image of death.  A combination of black and white constitutes degrees of lightness and darkness.  When painting black on a white background, the soul is transported to the white background.  Whiteness comes to life when contrasted with black line and black space.  In this case, soul also may be expressed through the blackness.  Soul may be transported to the black or a combination of white and black, which shed a mysterious merit to the soul or spirit.  Pen arts starts and ends from an essence of nature’s fundamental contrasts.  The primary essence is infinite and eternal while the artistic harmony of black and white can take one’s breath away.  But, this is not possible until a metamorphosis has been realized over many years and spiritual transcendence has occurred.  The transfer of spirit  occurs when one’s life experiences are projected onto the white canvas in harmony with blackness.  That is the true ‘pen art.’               Artist Lee Young JunI am a Korean.I pioneered the Lee Young Jun Pen Art andPerfected the genre.I am Artist Lee Young Jun.Pen Art is the only genre is an important work In the world.The works are extremely valuable.And no one is able to work not dare to imitate.The hope my work can be sympathy to many people. Thank you.

Great place. But a couple of the staff could use some cultural sensitivity training. The way some of the staff treated my brown & black elementary students was unacceptable. But most of the staff were great.

Good place to take a breath 🙂

Lovely space to spend ~1.5 hours. Its $14 for the exhibits (2 levels and ~8 big rooms) and they have plays there regularly.

This museum is rather small but I still enjoyed going here and looking at the different art that they had. This place is free for Berkeley students which is great and the workers here are very nice and know a lot about their galleries.

Nice, relaxing galleries. Good little cafe and bookstore.Chances to see student master works. Film offerings sometimes paired with cuisine...an unusual pairing!In downtown Berkely so parking a chore unless you go to a nearby garage. Downtown BART one block away! Walk there if you can.

The most dynamic art and film programs anywhere. The new building in Berkeley is a tremendous addition not only to the cultural life of downtown but also to the entire Bay Area. Terrific selection of public lectures, exhibition and events every week. Beyond lucky to have this in our Berkeley backyard.

I love this museum. The exhibits are always relevant to what is going on in the area or the world. And its top notch. The lectures and curator talks are interesting. The films at the film archive are hard to find elsewhere.

I’ve seen so many great movies at The Pacific Film Archive, emerging young film makers, classic directors, international stars, one offs and series. The programing is always interesting. I just watched a 1943 French thriller with a friend from Argentina and was surprised how intrigued we both were.

Beautiful building and intriguing exhibits; this is one of my favorite museums! The museums free to visit if youre a UC Berkeley student, so I would strongly recommend a visit if you are. Even if you arent, the fares at most $18. There are even films shown and a library of works about film, which unfortunately I havent had the time to check out. Come here if you can!

Wonderful experience for art and so Centra to all things Downtown Berkeley. Your entrance fee allows for a movie featured at the museum (a lil perk w/fee).

Understated and under appreciated player in the Bay Area art scene. Great open space, lots of experiential events that draw in the community and educate. Current exhibition on contemporary Tibetan art is a must see!

My second visit to the new museum. For a relatively small museum, it has exceptional shows. First-rate curators

Great museum in the heart of Berkeley. Small set of exhibits but they are rotated, and some of the special shows are especially worthwhile. The current show on dimensionality--the early 20th century art that was influenced by relativity and the other scientific breakthroughs of that era. The museum sponsors a well-curated film series as well as lectures. Overall, BAM is a regional treasure with a small enough scale to be intimate. Give it a try!

One of many favorite spot to bring my 4 month old ,4 & 6 yo kiddos. They love the art lab , and library area. Now they have unique public art based classes for 6-12 yo every second Saturdays of the month. My 4 yo attended Cecilia Vicuñas work based class. Instructor thought he was to young to follow instructions but they were so surprised how independent he was. Both boys had a blast, we are planning on going again. Plus its free class and ppl there is awesome.

Wonderful interesting building - nice not to see a predictable square box with predictable art inside. Its surprising: spiders collaborate with artists, and in turn the space makes me feel that the community is invited to collaborate with the artists and staff. I feel that it is a valuable and much needed addition to the East Bay Art scene. Welcome !

The place has a great vibe and the baristas are always nice.

Adults - $13Students -$11Under 17 - FreeEnjoyed the photo exhibit but a number of exhibits were closed at the time for installation. Should have had discount.

Great space with lots of small galleries and changing exhibitions. The cafe upstairs is different and is cantalevered over the street below. They are open super late which was nice and the staff was courteous and helpful. Nice clean restrooms and facilities was a plus.

Best place to watch classic and art movies around bay area

Great places to visit as student or with family, nice people and staff. They have a few rooms for local artists as well. Volunteered here once and it the atmosphere was optimistic, friendly, knowledgeable.

Great art in our backyard. Helpful docents

The Strange exhibit was great, especially a couple of Durer pieces.

A wonderful venue for a wide variety of programs and exhibits. Close to BART too

Architecturally interesting building and a good cafe at a great location. Near BART, so its convenient. Collection could be better, but its a new building/Location, so hopefully will improve.

Get tickets to a movie and get access to the museum for free! Don’t forget to take a break in the cafe. A great afternoon alone or with a companion.

A nice, small museum that almost always has interesting stuff. Plus the film archive shows great cinema you are unlikely to find elsewhere.

Hey these guys were super helpful and fun in here and they have everything. My kinda place.

Place must visit! Always somthing interesting to see there, excellent performance shows

Great place, interesting art. They sometimes do a family day that is free with art activities for children.

If you like modern and contemporary art, it is very nice.

Really cool and regularly updated museum. Also has films playing occasionally and some longer standing ancient Asian art. Love this place.

Saw the showing of One Child Nation, with question and answer period. Highly recommend for inside story on one child policy as actually affected life and how the area responded.

Weve been to this museum 4 times over the past ten years. Our last visit was in July 2012. Its been going steadily downhill, and it has finally become the WORST art museum that we have ever visited. 40% of the museum had poor exhibits. 20% of the museum had poor exhibits under construction. The other 40% of the museum had no exhibits at all, unless you count the blank concrete walls as contemporary art. For this we paid admission? On leaving after ten minutes we complained to the desk, so they gave us 2 free passes for the future. Now Im trying to figure out whom we dislike enough to give these free passes to. (Marcel Duchamp was a family friend, and his symmetric porcelain sculpture was better than this.)

I stumbled into here one day because my friend told me it was free for Cal students. Its pretty cool to walk around inside here, and I especially like the big orange sitting area in the middle of the building. I think you should definitely check this place out for a few minutes and just walk around if youre bored and around the area.

The best smelling bathroom I have ever visited. Lets face it: everyone will have a different opinion about the quality of the art installation here. But one thing you wont regret is the bathroom facility on the bottom floor. When I say wow, I mean WOW. Its a very mild scent, reminiscent of a forest grove. No overt chemical smells, no soap smells, just a scent that I wish I could purchase for my own home. Its a smell that I could be proud of. Now, there was no one else there when I went in, but it really was a smell so nice that it would almost be a shame to mess it up with a competing odor.

Beautiful architect and nice pieces of art. I was there for a dance performance and it was perfect. The seating view and staff was great..

Small, but often interesting exhibits, and a great film program

Great gallery to peruse on a rainy day. Clean and quiet and good variety of works on display.

Several great shows previewed tonight for members. Open to the public tomorrow. Worth a visit definitely!

Beautiful space, good exhibits (a bit too alternative for my taste), great cafe, awesome architecture and small but really nice store

Very nice it was interesting I recommend it it wasnt expensive either

Well curated. You never know what will show up next

Great place to see great films you wont find elsewhere... along with after-film discussions.

Great location! Super accessible by transit and a really wonderful space. I love cruising the art galleries before seeing a film. A total gem of Berkeley.

I joined BAMPFA earlier this year because I previously worked at a film company and really enjoy understanding films and how they are made. Since joining, I have seen old favorites of mine like Kurosawas Ran, films that I have always wanted to see (400 Blows by Truffaut) and new favorites like the film I saw last night (Elevator to the Gallows, Louis Malle).The theater is spacious and the theater sound is good. The audiences here are a treat since most are film buffs like myself. There is a cafe in the museum but with limited selection and hours (only open until 7 pm).

Beautiful space, great location. i went there for my friend’s MFA graduation art show—so i didn’t have to pay—but for so few exhibitions i wish it didn’t cost so much to get in, especially as a university museum.

Absolutely fantastic, films, art, events. Dont waste time donate and aquire a membership TODAY!

Great seeing old movies on the big screen