Five must-see San Francisco art shows this spring

San Francisco’s museums and galleries are springing into action this season with a slate of exhibitions you won’t want to miss.

Whether it’s local history, contemporary superstars or The City’s second major art fair of the year, there’s plenty to see. Here are The Examiner’s critic’s picks for navigating your art-filled spring.

Historical Bay Area Painters

Bay Area art has always been defined by defiance. In the 1950s, when the New York art world went all in on abstract expressionism, a cadre of determined Bay Area artists planted the flag of figurative painting on the West Coast.

This exhibition at Berggruen Gallery highlights members of the Bay Area figurative school, including Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, Richard Diebenkorn, Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliveira, David Park and Paul Wonner, offering a glimpse into the development of one of the Bay Area’s signature artistic movements.

By including recognizable subject matter such as figures and landscapes, the Bay Area figurative artists produced a body of work with a generous personal vision of the region and its residents. The impressionistic choices of bold colors and visceral compositions evoke a familiar romanticism of Northern California that still rings true today, a love letter to the Bay Area from years gone by.

Berggruen Gallery, 10 Hawthorne St. Through April 24. Free.

Ruth Asawa

You’ve probably seen Ruth Asawa around town. With the fountains she designed in Union and Ghirardelli squares, and her public sculptures on The Embarcadero and in Golden Gate Park, the late, great San Francisco artist left her mark throughout The City.

Starting in April, you’ll have a chance at a more intimate experience of Asawa’s work in the artist’s first major museum retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition will present the full range of her groundbreaking practice, offering an in-depth look at her expansive output and its inspirations through more than 300 artworks. Asawa’s signature looped-wire sculptures will share gallery space with lesser-known works that bring insight into her relentless experimentation.

In addition to Asawa’s own work, the exhibition will include a select number of works by peers and mentors with whom Asawa engaged in creative dialogue, including Josef Albers and Imogen Cunningham.

SFMOMA, 151 3rd St. April 5-Sept. 2. $30.