Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (Brundage Collection)

The Asian Art Museum is unquestionably one of the most important museums in San Francisco, with something to offer every visitor, not just specialists in Asiatic art.

The museum opened in 1966, with the basis of the collection coming from art collector, Avery Brundage.

Brundage, a wealthy businessman perhaps best known as a long serving President of the International Olympic Committee, began to take an interest in oriental art in 1936. He built up a private collection which, in 1959, he offered to the city of San Francisco "to bridge the gap between East and West". It was decided to build a special museum, which was not completed until 1966. From the outside the building is somewhat undistinguished.