Cliff House | Lois Reynolds Mead

Thursday we visited the Palace of the Legion of Honor to see their “Monet, The Early Years” show.

When we started from home it was a drizzle and it stayed that way all across the city.

When we got to the museum there was no parking except miles and miles down the road. Two positives from that were adding multiple steps to our Fitbits and we were so far down the road we got the best view of the Golden Gate Bridge, ever.

The museum was more crowded than I had ever seen, so my pictures were hard to get. I was dodging around stationary people listening to handsets. Later we found out that it was a free day for KQED members. Oh, and it was Spring Break so there were lots of kids around. A sampling of the art when he was young:

Fishing Boats, 1866

A Hut at Sainte-Adresse, 1867

The Seine at Bougival, 1869

The Porte d’Amont, Etretat, ca. 1868-69

Still life with Flowers and Fruit, 1869

Camille on the Beach, 1870.

The Pont Neufchâtel in Paris, 1871

Argenteuil, 1872

Still Life with Melon, 1872

The Port at Argenteuil, 1872

Regatta at Argenteuil, 1872

The last one really shows him developing into Impressionism. The reflections on the water are delicious.

After wending our way through the legion of crowds, we drove over to Land’s End for lunch at the Cliff House. Didn’t get a table by the window, but that was ok, we got popovers…

Very happy that we made it home without a traffic jam and before a very big storm.

A lovely foggy Friday to cross the new Bay Bridge looking for art at the Legion of Honor. The new bridge is a soaring sight and quite ethereal.

When you get to the Legion of Honor you also get a view of the other famous bridge…

“The Impressionists on the Water” runs until October 13 and it is a beautiful show. No photos in side the exhibit but I was awed by color lithographs by Seurat. Layers of color in the pointillism style, blended by the eye into depth and texture of water.

Whenever I go to this museum I pop into the room that has their Rodin sculptures. I think of him as old friend, now, because I have been to the Rodin Museum in Paris and I have seen where he lived and worked. This time at the Legion of Honor I caught sight of Camille Claudel and a work she had done. She had been part of the exhibit “Les Papesses” at the Pope’s Palace in Avignon in June and now I understand why she is usually found in close proximity to Rodin’s work.

Camille by Rodin and Rodin by Camille…

Re-creating statues…

Patterns in the courtyard…

The view from the front steps…

I am usually so unsuccessful at catching photos of birds that I don’t try anymore. Good luck this day, however, a little guy was so intent with the water that he was almost hovering for my convenience…

Rather than head back east in search of lunch, we realized we were not too far from the edge of the earth, so we headed west the few blocks to Land’s End and where the Sutro Baths used to be. It was a wise choice since the fog was starting to lift and we could imagine ourselves “on the water,” evidently our theme for the day. We have lived in Northern California for a very long time, but have never been to the Cliff House Restaurant and we were happy to expand our education of historical San Francisco landmarks.