Slow Art Day 2025

at the deYoung Museum, San Francisco

A Meditative Viewing Guide

The main idea: Simply notice what you notice

Feel free to ignore this guide, but if you’d like some direction, here are a few tips to enhance your experience.

We’ll meet in the cafe at 11:15 for our discussion. Look for the tables with the Slow Art Day sign.

1. Start with a simple breathing exercise

  • As you inhale, breathe in the art

  • As you exhale, let go of anything blocking you from fully experiencing it

  • Repeat as needed whenever your mind starts to wander

2. Observe the Art

  • What’s your immediate response? Joy, confusion, repulsion, awe, indifference?

  • Look closely at the details. What do you notice about the shapes, colors, contrast, and flow?

  • Does the piece draw you in or push you away? Why?

  • If it’s something familiar, does your perception shift as you observe? What causes that change?

  • Stay with the piece for a few minutes. Does your perspective evolve over time?

3. Compare and Reflect

  • How does this piece relate to another? What’s similar? What’s different?

  • Take a deep breath, and when you're ready, move on to the next work.

Look at the art in any sequence — no need to go in the order presented below.

The first four pieces are on the main level in the Modern and Contemporary Art section. James Turrell’s Skyspace is outside behind the cafe.

Spend as long or short as you’d like, targeting 5-10 minutes per piece.

Meet in the cafe at 11:15 for our discussion!

Ovals on Stilts

David Smith

Gallery 13

Laure

Firelei Baez

Gallery 15

I live in a Black Marble Palace with Black Panthers and White Doves #8

Mary Lovelace O’Neal

Gallery 15

Fruit Still Life

Flora C Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick

Gallery 5

Skyspace

James Turrell

Skyspace is a sculpture that you can experience from all angles - outside and inside.

It’s accessed from the garden behind the cafe. Walk through the cafe, through the sculpture garden, and down the stairs at the right side. Follow the sign to Skyspace.

“Attention may come and go but awareness is available to you [always].”

— Prashant Iyengar