San Francisco's oldest international art and antiques fair is back at Fort Mason this week, and this year dealers and designers are leaning into shine. The San Francisco Fall Show opens its 44th edition with an opening-night gala on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 5 p.m., kicking off four days of exhibition built around the theme Metallique Chic.
The fair, first held in 1982, has long billed itself as the West Coast's oldest and longest-running international art, antiques, and design fair, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
A Theme Rooted in Shine, Guided by a Longtime Chair
San Francisco interior designer Suzanne Tucker has served as the show's longtime chair, steering the artistic curation and thematic direction for the fair, according to LUXE Interiors + Design. Metallique Chic follows a string of annual concepts that have shaped the show's centerpiece Grand Entry Hall vignettes, including 2025's Paradise Found and 2023's Italian-inspired La Dolce Vita, as noted by Ronati.
This year's Grand Entry Hall will feature staged miniature-room vignettes designed by Christine and John Gachot, Christopher Roy, Elizabeth Lawrence, Scott J. Sottile, and Meg Braff, per the Chronicle's reporting. Show sponsor Schumacher is contributing wall coverings to the displays, the paper notes, adding a decorative-arts through line to the designer showcases.
Opening Night Gala Benefits Local Museums
Tickets to the opening-night gala range from $400 to $10,000, the Chronicle reports, with proceeds helping fund the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, which oversee both the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor.
Gap Inc. executive vice president and Old Navy chief creative officer Zac Posen and Town & Country editor-in-chief and Elle Decor editorial and brand director Stellene Volandes are serving as the gala's honorary co-chairs this year, per the Chronicle. The show has also returned to nonprofit 501(c)(3) status, a shift the paper says supports its mission to educate the public about and help preserve the decorative arts.
Public Days, Admission, and What's on the Floor
After the gala, the show opens to the public Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 15-17, from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 18, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the Chronicle's reporting. General admission runs $23.18, with the fair held at the Festival Pavilion inside the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture at 2 Marina Blvd.
The Festival Pavilion is at 2 Marina Boulevard, according to the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. The 2026 fair features more than 40 international and U.S. exhibitors, including galleries such as Charles Plante Fine Arts, Yew Tree House Antiques, Doris Leslie Blau, Kentshire, and BDDW, per The Glam Pad, with inventory spanning fine art, furniture, textiles, and decorative objects across centuries.
Ancient Greece and Contemporary Art on the Same Floor
Among the standout pieces on the exhibition floor, dealer Phoenix Ancient Art is showcasing a 6th-century B.C. Attic Greek amphora at Stand B9, depicting the Homeric heroes Odysseus and Diomedes in battle alongside the goddess Athena, according to a release carried by Newswire. Elsewhere on the floor, the Chronicle reports that Berggruen Gallery's booth includes Stephen Hannock's 2000 painting Flooded River With Tilted Tree, offering collectors a contemporary counterpoint to the ancient Greek pottery just a few booths away.
Public programming rounds out the four-day run, with an Oct. 18 panel featuring designers Anu Jain and Christopher Roy, according to Kinoko Real Estate. Lectures are scheduled throughout the show and are followed by book signings, giving the fair's public days a programming layer beyond the gallery booths and designer vignettes.
