Anna Hills, Edgar Payne, and other artists formed the Laguna Beach Art Association (LBAA) with a purpose “to advance the knowledge of and interest in Art, and to create a spirit of cooperation and fellowship between the painter and the public.”

Following a successful fundraising drive led by Anna Hills, the LBAA opened a grand, custom-built gallery designed by the well-known Los Angeles architect Myron Hunt. This survives as the Steele Gallery within the present museum building.

With the growth of a permanent collection of donated works and the beginnings of a program of loan exhibitions, the LBAA’s gallery took on some of the characteristics of a museum and became the Laguna Beach Museum of Art.

The museum changed its name to Laguna Art Museum and a physical expansion that completed the building as it now stands added galleries, public spaces, and staff offices.

The museum established Art & Nature, an annual event with special exhibitions, a commissioned outdoor work of art, lectures, panel discussions, films, and family activities on the theme of art’s engagement with the natural world.

The museum celebrates the centennial of the founding of the LBAA and continues to collect and show California art, offer art education programs, and serve the community as a cultural and social center with programs in music, dance, and film as well as the visual arts.