Blog Category: Legion of Honor

A Holiday Wish List

Are you still searching for the perfect gifts and best deals? Well, look no further! This week is cyber shopping week at the Fine Arts Museums' online store. Shop an array of unique and artful items exclusive to the Museums' online store, where you'll receive 15% off all regular price merchandise and 20% off our entire stock of holiday cards and calendars through Sunday, December 4!

There is a lot to choose from, so we've gathered together the top 5 gift ideas suggested by our knowledgeable Museum Stores staff. There's sure to be something to please everyone on your holiday list.

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FRAME|WORK: An Ancient Egyptian Relief from the Tomb of Mentuemhet

FRAME|WORK is a weekly blog series that highlights an artwork in the Museums' permanent collections. This week, with the holiday shopping frenzy upon us, we feature a depiction of ancient Egyptian gift giving in the Relief from the Tomb of Mentuemhet, currently on view at the Legion of Honor.

Relief from the Tomb of Mentuemhet, ca. 660 BC. Egypt, Thebes. Limestone with polychrome. Museum purchase, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum. 51.4.2

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Monet's Water Lilies Returns to the Legion of Honor!

Claude Monet’s incomparable Water Lilies has returned to Gallery 19 at the Legion of Honor! Following its display in two important temporary exhibitions, Water Lilies visited the Fine Arts Museums’ paintings conservation laboratory. In celebration of Monet’s birthday today, here is a behind-the-scenes look at the painting’s whereabouts over the past year.

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Water Lilies, ca. 1914–1917. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection. 1973.3

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To Honor the Dead While Serving the Living

On Armistice Day in 1924, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor opened its doors to the public. Dedicated to the 3,600 California soldiers, sailors and marines who gave their lives during World War I, the Legion of Honor pledged to “honor the dead while serving the living.”

Today, we not only celebrate the sacrifices of countless servicemen and women, but also the 87th birthday of the Legion of Honor Museum. To commemorate this meaningful day, we hope you enjoy this selection of related artwork.

Unidentified artist. Union soldier with his rifle, ca. 1861–1865. Ambrotype. Gift of William Rubel. 1986.3.34.

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FRAME|WORK: At the Milliner's by Édouard Manet

FRAME|WORK is a weekly blog series that highlights an artwork in the Museums' permanent collections. This week we feature an intimate picture by Édouard Manet currently on display in Gallery 19 at the Legion of Honor.

Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883). At the Milliner's (La modiste), 1881. Oil on canvas. Museum purchase, Mildred Anna Williams Collection. 1957.3

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The de Young Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the San Francisco Symphony

Both the de Young and the San Francisco Symphony have been fixtures on the San Francisco arts and culture scene for over a century, the de Young originating from the 1894 Midwinter Fair and the Symphony celebrating an auspicious 100th anniversary this year. Our two institutions have a history of collaboration and cooperation, the most notable of which is the loan of the Fine Arts Museums’ priceless 18th-century Guarnerius violin—a bequest of famed musician Jascha Heifetz—to the symphony, where it is played by concertmaster Alexander Barantschik during performances at Davies Symphony Hall and the Legion of Honor’s Florence Gould Theater.

William Michael Harnett (American, 1848–1892). The Old Violin, ca. 1886. Lithograph on plate glass (reverse glass print). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Brotherton in memory of Harry Packard. 2001.40

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