Gone To The De Young Museum
"A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament."
--Oscar Wilde
Sometimes, it's difficult to get to the museums in your own town. The M.H. de Young Museum first opened in 1895 as a small exhibition for the California Midwinter International Exposition. More recently, it was completely torn down, rebuilt, and finally reopened in 2005. I had never been to it before even though it has had quite a few impressive exhibits in the past. It's easy to neglect the things that you have access to all the time.
Much like NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences that's just across the way, the de Young has a weekly event that extends their normal hours into the evening and includes special events with music and cocktails. Every Friday night from spring to fall, the museum holds these events. I knew I could kill two birds with one stone here by showing our out-of-town guest one of our museums and being able to visit it in the evening as well.
One of the prominent features of the new rebuilt museum is the Nancy B. and Jake L. Hamon Tower. The view was fun from there. The only problem was that it was a bit too reflective. If they lowered the lights a little, it could have been really gorgeous.
After spending some time in the tower, we finally got to see some of the artwork. There was a roomful of wire sculptures by Ruth Asawa.
In the American Exhibit, there was an entire Inuit section with many cool items.
Some of the more interesting items were in the more modern sculpture section. Flora C. Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick made this glass structure called Fruit Still Life.
There were many cool pieces in the museum, but my favorite was this church made out of bullets. I was stuck admiring this for several minutes.
In the main lobby, they had a performance by Quartet San Francisco, a string quartet that while we were there did covers of Bohemian Rhapsody and Eleanor Rigby.
There was a lot to see. I definitely recommend checking it out, and it was nice to see people come out to the event on a Friday night. It's not happening right now, but it'll be back in the spring. I think NightLife is a bit more fun because you can bring your drinks to the exhibits, so it feels less restrictive.
What was once a temporary house for an exposition has grown into an impressive and wonderful contemporary museum in Golden Gate Park. I wish I had come sooner.
Related Items:
The de Young in the 21st Century: A Museum by Herzog & de Meuron
De Young Museum, San Francisco, California - 16"x20" - Fine-Art Gicle Photographic Print by Carol M. Highsmith
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