Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay at the de Young Museum and Impressionist Paris: City of Light at the Legion of Honor

An exhibition of nearly 100 paintings by famous impressionists, loaned by the Musée D'Orsay, his being held at the de Young Museum in San Francisco (USA)
From May 22 through September 6, 2010, visitors can appreciate the works from famous masters who lived in France during the mid -to -late 19th century and whose rose one of the most original and recognizable artistic stlyes: Impressionism.
Among other masterpieces, the Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay includes: Whistler’s Arrangement in Gray and Black - The Artist's Mother, famous under its colloquial name “Whistler’s Mother (1871), "Racehorses Before the Stands" by Edgar Degas (1866–1868), "Family Reunion" by Frédéric Bazille (1867), "Saint-Lazare Station" by Claude Monet (1877), "Snow at Louveciennes" by Alfred Sisley (1878) and "The Birth of Venus" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1879)

Concurrent with this exhibition, the Legion of Honor, San Francisco (USA) presents from June 5 to September 26, 2010 the special exhibition Impressionist Paris: City of Light, nickname earned during the 19th century with the proliferation of gas lamps that lit up the French capital.

Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the Impressionist Paris represented in more than 180 prints, drawings, paintings, photographs and illustrated books dating from 1850 to the early 1900s from the outstanding permanent collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, as well as several notable private collections.

Curated by James A. Ganz, the Impressionist Paris: City of Light exhibition explores various aspects of Parisian society and the French art world from roughly 1850 to the turn of the 20th century, including picturesque views of old Paris by Charles Marville, Charles Meryon, and Johan Barthold Jongkind, as well as public and private views of the lively parisian society depicted by Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Georges Seurat.

Prints and periodicals featuring the works of Honoré Daumier, Edouard Manet, Paul Signac, and James Tissot convey key historical events and emphasize the role of illustrated art journalism.

Included in the exhibiton are also black-and-white works on paper by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Mary Cassatt, and Paul Gauguin.

Colorful images of the theater, café-concerts, circus, as well as the Expositions Universelles convey the popular entertainment in late 19th-century Paris.

The exhibition concludes with a selection of posters of the turn of the 20th century by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, Théophile Steinlen, and Alphonse Much.

A lecture entitled “Culture Clash: The Elephant and the Eiffel Tower” will be presented by James A. Ganz on Saturday, June 26 at 2:00 p.m.

Sunday live chamber music performances are scheduled for July 18, August 1, and August 15 from noon to 2:00 p.m. The chamber musical selections reflect the Impressionist era and are presented in partnership with San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and Classical Revolution.