The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, commonly called the Legion of Honor, is one of our favorite museums in all of San Francisco. It sits on a breaktaking piece of real estate in Lincoln Park, perched on bluffs above the ocean, with a view to the Golden Gate. On this particular day we had to wait until the afternoon to see the bridge - when we arrived it was socked in with fog.
The museum building is in the classical European Beaux-arts style and has a wonderful courtyard with a replica of Rodin's "The Thinker," and a Louvre style light-gathering pyramid.
The Legion on Honor has an extensive Rodin display. This is one of our favorites. We can remember when it used to live outside, overlooking the City.
When we come to the Legion of Honor, we always visit our old favorites, but this time we specifically wanted to see the exhibit which was ending soon - Lalique, Tiffany and Faberge. Although crowded, we enjoyed the exhibit very much and were sad that photos weren't allowed. The creative genius displayed in these works of art - jewelry, accessories, lamps, vases, etc., was stunning and a bit overwhelming. After all those wonderful Art Nouveau treasures we were hungry, so we had lunch at the cafeteria. This cafeteria never disappoints and this day was no exception. We chose a table outside in the weak sun and enjoyed the ambiance even though it was quite chilly.
Here is the charcuterie plate that I ordered. It was absolutely delicious.
Being thus fortified, we set out to visit all our old favorites. I think Jim's favorite gallery is the one housing the Rodin collection.
My favorite part is the approach to the modern wing. I always have a sharp intake of breath when I turn the corner and first see the Monet "Water Lillies" through the series of portals.
As much as I love the multi-doored view to the Water Lillies, it is not my favorite work in this area. I actually have several favorites and would be hard pressed to choose. For example, I really like this work by Della Robbia because I first learned about him when we were visiting Florence with Chuck and Nancy. We went to a hilltop church above a huge cemetery. Inside you couldn't see anything unless you put a few coins into the box, and then the lights came on just long enough to take a quick photo. The interior of the church was totally decorated by Della Robbia, who has this distinctive white on blue porcelain style of work.
Another favorite of mine and of Jim's is a HUGE painting by the Russian Konstantin Makovsky called "The Russian Bride's Attire," painted in 1887. We always pause in front of this canvas for a long time. The colors are so vibrant and there is so much going on in the painting. My photos don't do justice. Here is a small portion of the painting. The girl, probably the bride's sister, is holding the bride's hand and gazing up at her. I think my favorite part is the richness of the oriental carpet.
This photo gives you an idea of the scale of the painting, eventhough it only shows a portion of it. The gown in the lower right is that of the girl above.
As we pass this painting, we are getting closer to the 20th century and find lovely art nouveau and art deco pieces, like these:
(Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, "A Coign of Vantage" 1895)
(Elie Nademan, "Buck Deer" 1915)And of course, Monet's Water Lillies are at the very end of this gallery.
The Legion of Honor never disappoints and we always feel fulfilled after having visited our friends there. For more information about the Legion of Honor, check their website: http://www.famsf.org/legion/index.asp
After this we drove down Clement Street toward the ocean and found a nice little park with benches. This sailboat was having a great sail as the day was quite windy.
We didn't stay long here because it was too cold. We did continue on down to the beach and turned up into Golden Gate Park at the Queen Wilhelmina Gardens, anchored by this lovely restored windmill.
It is so great to just wander in the Park - there's a little bit of everything! We stopped when we saw this pond
and watched the Great Blue Heron stalk his prey, not seeming to move.
Later on we parked again and walked through the park. We came across this interesting altar-like area off the beaten path, behind some redwoods. There were some offerings set into niches. Hmmm....
This path went through first a Rhododendron area, where we saw this exotic looking Rhody flower:
and then we came out in a fuchsia area. Some of these flowers looked downright tropical, like something we might have seen in Ecuador.
Inevitably, we ended up at the De Young Museum in the Park. Jim and I are still mourning the old museum building, which had to be torn down due to earthquake damage. We haven't yet warmed up to the new, very modern, building, but were comforted to see that the pond was still gracing the front.
Inside, of course, we went right for "her," the whole reason we keep coming back to the De Young. The Boris Lovet-Lorski "Venus" has been a favorite of Jim's for his whole adult life. Once I first met her, she became my favorite too. If you have ever seen the movie "Vertigo" you will notice her in a cameo at the Legion of Honor, amidst large potted palms. Now she is at the De Young, in less exotic surroundings, but still lovely.
Here you get a real idea of her incredibly long legs.
After wandering through some Jackson Pollack-like canvases we came across this really interesting contemporary art glass display in another gallery. There were the obligatory wonderful Dale Chihully pieces, along with many other very creative pieces, some using refraction to give the full picture hidden within the glass. This piece is a little more traditional, but not less amazing when one considers it is made of glass.
This next one I saw once at an airport gallery (I think it was SeaTac), on the 2nd floor.
Yes, this is glass! It is called "Minotours" 1997 by Dan Dailey. I think it has a fabulously primitive feel to it. The last thing we saw in this gallery which blew me away was this wonderful Jaguar bench. I couldn't get close enough to see what the material was - but everything else in this gallery was made of glass.... For more information on the De Young, check their website: http://www.famsf.org/deyoung/
After the De Young, we drove over to the Castro to another sort of museum...our friends Mark's and Richard's house, where there are such wonders as the famed, yet rare JACKALOPE.
Richard cooked up a grand dinner surprise for Jim and set an absolutely stunning table!
The surprise was not only being there for gourmet dinner, but also all the wonderful guests who arrived to help Jim celebrate!
Lynda brought the candelabra used to celebrate Jim's 70th birthday in Paris. This helped set the mood.
First course was a lovely carrot ginger soup. This was followed by the an incredible salad made from arugula, fingerling potatoes, anaheim chilis and other wonderful ingredients, topped in a dollop of goat cheese.
Our entree (though I was already full) was a delicious Boeuf Bourgonone.
And, (really groaning now) we finished with an apricot upside down cake. It was so great to look around the table and see good friends in this celebration of life. At one time I just stopped to observe - there were at least 7 different conversations going on, across the table, at full voice, and none of them dull. What a lovely end to birthday week and Jim's Grand Day Out!Until the next adventure,
Keep on stopping to smell the roses!
Audrey
Audrey, I love this post to your blog. The pictures are fantastic. I know that Jim had a really great birthday. Only wish we could have been there to help celebrate.
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