SFMOMA Adds 2 AI Installations to Matisse Show in Google Arts & Culture Tie-Up

1 articles · Updated · The Atlantic · Aug 20

SFMOMA has woven two generative-AI features into its new Matisse-focused exhibition: a film animating Paris around the 1905 Salon d’Automne and screen-based expansions of selected paintings near the exit.
Janet Bishop, the museum’s chief curator, said the tools were meant to deepen immersion and reach different kinds of learners, especially younger visitors, using historically researched source images and extensive human oversight.
The opening film grew from an early-2026 collaboration with Google Arts & Culture after museum leaders visited its London office; curators then held weekly sessions with Google to turn archival postcards and photos into motion.
Bishop said the Paris animation was central to helping visitors feel the energy of turn-of-the-century Paris, while the painting-expansion “Experiment” was less essential to the show’s story but has proved popular with children.
The project highlights a broader museum push to test how Silicon Valley-era technology can pull audiences away from their screens by reshaping how they encounter traditional art.