By Klyde Java

On Nov. 9, the Legion of Honor began its 100th anniversary celebration with festivities including a cake picnic, screen-printing press and portrait station with the museum’s most prominent sculpture, a bronze cast of “The Thinker,” by Auguste Rodin (1904). 

A performance from the George Washington High School marching band ushered in the party with heavy drums and harmonic brass. As part of the Free Saturdays program, Bay Area residents delighted in free admission to the museum.

The weekend-long celebration began with an opening ceremony, consisting of remarks from House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi; San Francisco supervisors Connie Chan and Aaron Peskin; the consul general of France in San Francisco, Florian Cardinaux; and the grand chancelier de la Légion d’Honneur, France, François Lecointre. 

Thomas P. Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSAF), was awarded a congressional certificate by Pelosi. Campbell and Lecointre concluded the event with a centennial cake cutting.

Once the site of the City-owned Golden Gate Cemetery, San Francisco mogul Adolph Spreckels purchased the land and gifted it to his wife Alma Spreckels who convinced him to open an art museum. This suggestion resulted in the creation of the Legion of Honor (previously known as the Palace of the Legion of Honor).

“Inspired by the French pavilion at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, Alma Spreckels, with the support of her husband Adolph, sought to create a museum celebrating French art and culture, leading to the construction of the Legion of Honor,” Peskin said in his remarks.

The Legion opened on Armistice Day in 1924 and established itself as a monument to classic European art and culture as well as serving as a memorial for the 3,600 California soldiers who perished during World War I.

Since the museum’s inception, its collections have expanded dramatically, boasting rosettes from 2000 B.C. to pieces from 19th century impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh. The museum still acquires pieces; a recent purchase of Renaissance artist Lavinia Fontana’s “Portrait of Bianca degli Utili Maselli and Her Children” debuted earlier this year.

The joy of the arts was the recurring motif of the day. Curious observers stood stoically in front of paintings, while others meticulously sketched the luminous water lilies of Monet. Visitors enjoyed a slice of cake just outside the museum’s triumphal arch. 

The day’s activities reinforced the importance of the arts and its ability to generate curiosity and reflection. 

“The arts are unifying to our country, and I think it’s going to be the salvation of our country,” Pelosi said.

She believes art and its museums are spaces “where we can come together, forget our differences, be inspired, laugh together and cry together.”

The Legion of Honor is located at 100 34th Ave. Learn more at famsf.org/visit/legion-of-honor.