The Foster Museum - Palo Alto, California

Julie Cross

Visited October 2024. A unique and utterly captivating experience. Lived in the area several years before I heard about Tony Foster's amazing work and the local museum exclusively exhibiting his work. The museum is free but appointments are required. This only added to the excellent experience because it felt like a private/exclusive viewing. The visit can be done in 1-2 hours if that's all you have but it would be easy to stay longer returning to re-view earlier exhibits. Art enthusiast and outdoor/nature lovers alike should visit but also that adult or child who thinks they won't enjoy viewing art in a museum. Kids should be closely supervised but the museum is family friendly with various activity stations set up in some of the exhibit rooms. Restrooms are available and once inside the museum there are no stairs or unlevel surfaces, not sure if strollers are permitted.

Alexandre Cassago

I loved learning a little more about the history of Tony Foster and his adventures. The museum has a very beautiful collection and everything is very well organized. I highly recommend a visit to the museum.

Smriti Agarwal

This place is really nice!!

It showcases the water color paintings by a British Artist named Tony Foster. He paints the nature with the hope that people love his paintings and feel the need to preserve the beauty of nature. While the paintings were no doubt absolutely stunning, the flow of the museum was very well done too.. extremely fluid. It started with a 10 minute intro talk by the staff there followed a 4 min video and then I was left to explore the museum. It was divided into sections/topics and all the paintings that the artist made within that.
Something that stood out for me were the paintings he made of the underwater world. He went on diving expeditions in the Cayman islands and drew whatever he saw while being underwater on plastic films with special crayons.. he then came up and painted whatever he saw on actual canvas sheets..

Also, every section had a very nice engaging activity like painting/coloring, or something else which was related to the topic of that section.
Would highly recommend going!

Corey

Believe the hype! I went here based on the great reviews and I had an amazing experience. Stayed for almost two hours and it wasn't nearly enough time to immerse myself as much as I would have. I'm not exactly an art buff, nor a nature buff, but as someone who loves to travel and learn, I found so much to enjoy in this unique artwork. The audio tour accompaniment - especially getting to hear the artist himself navigate you through his work - was a great addition. The museum staff were lovely, as well.

Richard Treitel

Tony Foster has an amazing talent, and I say this as a long-time collector of landscape and abstract paintings. His works look simple at first glance, but as you examine them more closely, each piece of the painting tells a story, or evokes a spirit if you prefer, from that part of the scene.

On top of that, I admire his willingness to travel far, including on foot, to find the view he wants to paint.

Like another reviewer, I spent a good 2 hours here, and I expect to go back (I have the good fortune to live nearby). I took photos of some paintings, but they aren't like standing in front of the art.

kat teerawat

Beautiful painting and very inspiring story.
Spent like 2.5 hrs admiring the painting and hearing the story of each paintings.
Highly recommended !

11 10

Strongly recommend for family. The museum has not only paintings but also craft tables, scavenger hunts, message boards, etc. Small but takes more than 1 1/2hrs.

Hanyue

Fantastic Journey!!! The watercolor paintings are extremely great!!! Also, there are some interactive activities for us to explore drawing.