ANOTHER MUSEUM

Dickie, our daughter Gretchen, and I made a trip to the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum on the last day of March. We wanted to see the Alfred Bruyas collection of French masterpieces that is presently on display there.

It was a beautiful day and we lucked out on the parking, finding a space right at the entrance on the far side of the relection pool that stands there. Here's what it looked like there:

Before we entered the museum, we toured the holocaust memorial just to the west of the reflection pool. The artist who executed the memorial was George Segal, with whom we were acquainted in East Brunswick, N.J. It's a moving and fitting work, as you will see in this next picture.

As we entered the quadrangle of the museum building which is wonderfully placed high on the hill there overlooking the Pacific Ocean, we passed a statue of Rodin's "The Thinker". I took a shot of that, too.

The museum was featuring Alfred Bruyas' collection of French masterpieces, including many by his close friend and associate, Gustave Courbet. The picture below is called "The Meeting". It was painted by Courbet and shows Bruyas (in the green coat with his servant behind him) talking to Courbet, the larger figure on the right. We were told that this painting caused a falling out between Courbet and Bruyas, who apparently considered his being a smaller figure in the painting a kind of slight.

It was a fun day! We recommend the museum on your next visit to San Francisco.