It's raining again here in California, so Mr. B and I decided to head to the art museum in San Francisco to see the Monet exhibit. We timed it perfectly so we wouldn't get stuck in commuter traffic or the Giant's home opener traffic. Off to the Legion of Honor!
I showed the lady our online tickets, picked up our audio guides and went to walk in and saw.......
....this....
....and this.....oops.....that does not look like Monet! It was a Rubens exhibit......did we miss it?
Nope. I had the wrong museum! So while we did take a quick peek at the Rubens show (not really our cup of tea) we quickly headed over to the deYoung to see Monet.
Now that's better.......
Just look at all the colors he used in this close-up........
The exhibit was titled - Monet: The Late Years and included about 50 pieces of art that he did from 1913-1926, where he spent most of his time at home in Giverny, his home near Paris France.
He loved his garden and was passionate about his Lily Pond. He would often paint the same view at different times of the day to see how the colors changed.
Once again, amazing color on top of color.
In his later years he developed cataracts and eventually had surgery to correct his vision. His palate changed from blues and greens to orange and yellows.
But still powerful color....
Also at the deYoung was a Gauguin exhibit that was interesting and is the first one at the Fine Arts Museum dedicated to the work of Paul Gauguin.
He met and married his wife, a Danish women, Mette-Sophie Gad and they had five children. After 11 years their marriage fell apart when Paul Gauguin decided to paint full time.
This is a tiny portrait of his wife - about 3 x 4".
Paul Gauguin - 1848-1904
Similar to Monet, Gauguin had layer upon layer of color.
Amazing color in the water.....
While Mr. B and I did get to see three amazing exhibits, we did miss our first home opener with the Giants in 19 years. While returning home we saw the fireworks from the freeway and I had my camera ready for the fly-over (my favorite!) but alas we either missed it or they did not do it this year.
The only fly-over I saw was a big black crow flying over our car!
"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."
--Claude Monet
Love your images of the paintings. I guess we should go, but we saw so many Monet's at the Marmottan-Monet Musée in Paris and I now hate to drive to SF. I also appreciated your blog on creating your garden. Funny, I thought it was always like it is now!
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