Since its founding in 1941, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art has developed a unique identity with strengths in the following areas: Ancient Art, Asian Art (Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Tibetan), French and English 19th and early 20th Century Art, 19th and early 20th Century American Art, International Modernism, Works on Paper, Photography, and Contemporary Art. Influenced by the community as a whole and by individual collectors of major importance, the holdings of the Museum have taken on a character specific to this institution.