In 2010-2011, two marvelous exhibitions of the treasured paintings of the Musée d'Orsay visited San Francisco. In the preface of one of the exhibition's books, The Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d'Orsay, French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote, "Works of art are made to be seen by all, to travel the world and across the ages. They belong to everyone. The role of a museum is to preserve and maintain the works, to see that they are shared and circulated."

Fifteen years ago, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris lived up to Sarkozy's words. During an extended renovation of their home in Paris, the Musée d'Orsay's paintings ventured out on a world wide tour. Two of these exhibitions came to San Francisco's de Young Museum, Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces of the Musée d'Orsay and Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond.

The Musée d'Orsay's building was originally a train station which opened in 1900 as the Gare d'Orsay. In 1986, it reopened as the Musée d'Orsay.

The Gare d'Orsay served as a train station in central Paris for nearly 40 years. During the Nazi occupation and post war period, the station was used for a variety of utilitarian purposes until 1977 when President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing made the decision to transform the station into the Musée d'Orsay. It took nine long years until President François Mitterand finally opened it in 1986.

By 2010, some upgrades were needed. Walls were painted dark colors. The cafe was redesigned making it more intimate and contemporary. The exhibition spaces were made "modulable" by removing marble columns. Visitor circulation and security was enhanced and modernized.

The two Musée d'Orsay exhibitions at the de Young proved to be a major source of pride for the city. Visitors came to San Francisco from all over the nation and the world. Over the course of these two exhibitons, the de Young drew nearly a million art loving museum visitors!

The person largely responsible for bringing these exhibitions to San Francisco was John Buchanan Jr., Director of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco. It was his crowning achievement that San Francisco was the only city to host both exhibitions. Sadly, John Buchanan died soon after at the end of 2011 at the age of 58.

In this newsletter and next month's edition, we celebrate these world famous paintings which briefly called San Francisco their temporary home.

In March, we are focusing on paintings in Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces of the Musée d'Orsay. In April, we will feature paintings which were part of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond.

Below are some of the paintings in the Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces Musée d'Orsay.

In the 1870's, the art establishment of Paris rejected the avant garde artists we now call the Impressionists. These artists were deemed unacceptable per the long-held traditional tastes and norms of the Parisian art establishment.

This exhibition tells the story of the Birth of Impressionism, showing what came before and how Impressionism was a fresh approach. For contrast's sake, the exhibition included some paintings which were accepted as the norm by the Paris Salon.

Jules Lefebvre was the epitome of the established Paris Salon artists. He was known for his portraits, mostly single figures of beautiful women. Between 1855 and 1898, he exhibited 72 portraits at the Paris Salon. He was also an influential art professor at the Académie Julian in Paris. Lefebvre began teaching there in 1870. Women students held Lefebvre in high regard, especially for helping women artists approach galleries and salon exhibitions.

James McNeill Whistler certainly was not an impressionist, but he was a friend of Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Gustave Caillebotte. He was invited to exhibit with the Impressionists at their first Paris exhibition in 1874. His biography is strikingly unique, including a stay in Saint Petersburg, Russia, three years at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, for a time living the Bohemian life in Paris, and eventually finding his artistic home in London.

Whistler painted in both oil and watercolor. He did not like sentimentality or moral allusion in paintings and his credo was "art for art's sake." His art was prized for its subtle delicacy, while his public persona was anything but subtle. He was known to be difficult and combative. He believed there to be a parallel between painting and music. He entitled many of his paintings "arrangements", "harmonies", and "nocturnes", emphasizing the primacy of tonal harmony.

James' parents struggled with James from his birth. He was a difficult child, prone to fits of anger and insolence. In 1842, the family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, where James' father engineered the building of the Saint Petersburg-Moscow Railway. Young James, now between 10 and 12 years old, studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.

In 1847-48, the family spent time in London on the way to returning to the United States. James' brother-in-law, Frances Haden, took an interest in James and exposed James to London's art galleries and art collectors.

Back in America in 1849, tragedy struck. James' father died of cholera at age 49. The family's wealthy days were over. James was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1851 at the age of 17. Three years later, he was dismissed for an accumulation of demerits by Superintendent Col. Robert E. Lee.


After West Point, Whistler worked as a draftsman for the U.S. Coast Guard and as a struggling artist in Baltimore. He then went to Paris to study art, a 21 year old arriving in the Latin Quarter in 1855. When not indulging in the Bohemian cafe life, he studied art and painted. He adhered to two principles, that line is more important than color and that black is the fundamental color of tonal harmony.

As his debts grew, he took to copying paintings at the Louvre and selling them. Over time, he came to know Henri Fantin-Latour and through him, Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet. In 1874, Edgar Degas invited Whistler to participate in the first Impressionist Exhibition in 1874. Whistler declined the invitation as did Manet. It is believed that Fantin-Latour's influence lead to James not showing with the Impressionists.

Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, or Portrait of Artist's Mother ... James McNeill Whistler eventually built an artistic career, making his home in London with frequent trips back and forth to Paris. In 1864, Whistler's very religious and proper mother visited London, upsetting James' bohemian life style. Again, in 1871, Whistler's mother was in London. One day, according to a letter from his mother, Whistler's model did not show. Not to lose a day's productivity, James asked his mother to model for a portrait. It took dozens of sittings to complete the painting. Today, colloquially this painting is known as Whistler's Mother and it has become James McNeill Whistler's most renowned painting.

These three were examples of the traditional Salon painters. Now we proceed to the transitional painters and Impressionist painters.

Jules Bastien-Lepage is associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style which grew out of the Realist movement. Bastien-Lepage's paintings helped bring on the public's acceptance of impressionism. Influential English art critic Roger Fry credited Bastien-Lepage's paintings as a bridge for the public's wider acceptance of the Impressionists, especially the paintings of Claude Monet.

I was unfamiliar with this painting before seeing it in person for the first time. It is strikingly large and commanded admiring gazes from the museum's crowd. I remember being drawn into this peasant girl's deep and alert eyes. Bastien-Lepage loved painting agricultural themes with peasants, dignifying their hard labors.

Although Edgar Degas exhibited with the Impressionists, he never really considered himself to be one of them. He rejected being called an Impressionist, preferring to be called a Realist. Although he did not get along well with Claude Monet, he was a close friend with Édouard Manet and Mary Cassatt. Degas did not have a high regard for plein air painters. He once said, "You know what I think of people who work out in the open. If I were the government I would have a special brigade of gendarmes to keep an eye on artists who paint landscapes from nature. Oh, I don't mean to kill anyone; just a little dose of bird-shot now and then as a warning."

Degas was always well groomed, a stylish gentleman, a man who enjoyed participating in Parisian bourgeois society. He often could be seen smartly dressed attending the ballet or being part of the social scene at the race track. He is most remembered for his paintings related to the ballet, and to a lesser extent, scenes of race tracks and racing horses.

Racehorses Before the Stands is a scene of horses about to line up at the starting gate. But Degas reduces the significance of that timing, focusing instead on the light and lines of the silhouettes of the horses and their riders. He did not include any details as to the identities of the jockeys or the names of the horses.

Degas was a fan of the ballet, not only attending performances but also visiting backstage and the dancer's studios. He loved painting dancers at work in rehearsal, exploring them in variations of posture and gesture. In The Class of Dance, he captures a moment near the end of rehearsal when the dancers were exhausted, stretching, twisting their backs, adjusting their hair or a ribbon. They seem to not pay much attention to their inflexible teacher, Jules Perrot, a real life master.

At the Stock Exchange shows a corner of the open trading floor of the Paris Stock Exchange  French banker Ernest May stands in the center of the picture wearing a top hat, listening to his colleague, a certain M. Bolâtre, leaning over his shoulder. They are likely discussing a document held aloft by a partially obscured third party. Degas' technique in this painting is more related to Impressionism than most of his works. This painting has quickly applied strokes.

Éduard Manet was one of the first artists to paint modern life. He is known as a modernist and is considered a transitional artist from Realism to Impressionism.

Manet was born into an upper class family with strong political connections. In his youth, he was targeted toward a career in the French Navy, but he rejected it, pursuing art instead.

Because Manet pictured nudes in some of his paintings, his masterworks Luncheon in the Grass and Olympia caused controversy. In 1863, two thirds of the paintings presented to the Salon were rejected, including works by Gustave Courbet and Camille Pissarro. Manet included The Luncheon in the Grass at the Salon des Refusés.

The Fifer was rejected for the Salon of 1866. In 1865, Manet visited the Prado in Madrid where he studied the works of Diego Velázquez. When he returned to Paris, he took what he learned from Velázquez, painting an anonymous regimental fifer of the Spanish army.

Claude Monet founded Impressionism. Of course, he didn't know it by that name when he began. He was just pursuing his artistic goal, to paint nature as he perceived it, especially when painting nature outdoors, en plein air.

At what we now call the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874, the title of Monet's painting Impression, Soleil Levant ended up loaning part of its title "Impression" to serve as the name of the entire artistic movement. Well known Parisian art critic Louis Leroy wrote a far less than flattering satirical review of the 1974 exhibition for the French newspaper Le Charivari. The sentiments in the article did not last long, but the name Impressionism was born, and it remains the well known name of one of the art world's most beloved movements.

The Magpie is one of about 140 snowscapes painted by Claude Monet. It measures 35" x 51" and is his largest snowscape. The painting was done during the winter of 1868-69 in Étretat in Normandy. Monet's patron, Louis Joachim Gaudibert, arranged for a house where Monet, his girlfriend Camille Doncieux and their newborn son stayed while Monet painted winter landscapes. The solitary magpie seated on the loosely constructed gate is the focus of the painting while the surrounding snow is done in varying shades of white and colored shadows. Monet's use of light and color led to The Magpie's rejection by the Paris Salon of 1869. Over one hundred years later, this painting has been in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay since 1984 and is considered one of the d'Orsay's most popular paintings.

Rue Montogueil is one of a pair of paintings, and the other is titled The Rue Saint-Denis. Both paintings show the streets underneath a flurry of French Flags. They were done in 1878 for a festival declared that year to celebrate "Peace and Work," part of the Universal Exhibition in Paris, with its featured debut of the Eiffel Tower. Soon afterward, France designated 14 July as French National Day.

The viewpoint in Rue Montogueil is a window high above the throngs milling in the street below. The reds, whites and blues vibrate with the enthusiasm of the crowd, giving the impression of a very lively scene.

Twenty-five years later, American Impressionist Childe Hassam created a series of similar scenes, this time with American Flags. One painting from the series, Avenue in the Rain, was displayed prominently next to Barrack Obama's desk in the Oval Office. Hassam's paintings done between 1916 and 1919 are an homage to Monet's Rue Montogueil.

The Turkeys was a scene Monet came upon while at the Chateau de Rottembourge (11 miles SE of Paris). He had been commissioned to create some large canvases for the walls of the Chateau. Instead of making the Chateau the subject of this painting, Monet focused on this "rafter" of turkeys grazing on a summer day. This is not among Monet's most famous works, but it is a crowd pleaser at the Musée d'Orsay.

The Gare Saint-Lazare Station is one of 12 paintings Monet produced depicting the now famous train station. The station was the first major train depot built in Paris in 1837 serving the western suburbs and beyond to the coast of Normandy. Monet rode this train many times, to his childhood home in Le Havre near the coast and to his home in Giverny. His paintings of Saint-Lazare Station are known for Monet's treatment of their smoky interiors. He exhibited seven of this series at the Third Impressionist Exhibition in 1877. Today, these paintings are in the collections of museums worldwide, including Harvard University's Fogg Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Gallery in London.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a central figure within the Impressionist Movement. His paintings express a richness of warmth. His earlier works were snapshots of moments in life, full of sparkling light. Later in his career, he became more disciplined, using formal technique in creating portraits and figures of women.

The Swing was done in the gardens in what is today the Musée de Montmartre. Renoir rented a cottage in the gardens to be close to the Moulin de la Galette where he was simultaneously painting Bal du Moulin de la Galette. Both of these paintings were exhibited at the third Impressionist Exhibition of 1877. Shortly after the exhibition, The Swing was purchased by fellow impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte. The Swing's three adult figures include Jeanne Samary, Norbert Goeneutte and Edmond Renoir, Pierre-Auguste's brother. At the time, an art critic noted similarities with the paintings of James Tissot, but Tissot painted high fashion dresses, whereas Jeanne Samary in The Swing is dressed in a working-class dress.

Berthe Morisot first exhibited at the Salon de Paris in 1864, and her work was included in the six subsequent salons. In 1874, she joined with Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley in the first "rejected" Impressionist Exhibition. She was described as one of "les trois grandes dames" of Impressionism by art critic Gustave Geffroy. The other great dames were Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt. Berthe Morisot married Eugène Manet, brother of her friend and colleague Édouard Manet.

The Cradle shows Berthe Morisot's sister Edma Portillon watching as her newborn daughter Blanche sleeps. Berthe Morisot showed the painting at the First Impressionist Exhibition in 1874. Although it garnered praise for its grace and beauty, it did not sell at Morisot's price of 800 francs. The painting remained in the family collection.

Gustave Caillebotte(pronounced "K-Bot") was both a member of the Impressionists and one of their first patrons. As a painter, his work was more realistic than others in the Impressionist group. He was born to an upper class Parisian family. He earned a law degree in 1868 and was also trained as an engineer. In 1870-71, he was drafted into the French Army and fought in the Franco-Prussian war. One of his most famous paintings is Paris Street, Rainy Day which is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Floor Scrapers ... Gustaave Caillebotte attended the first Impressionist Exhibition in 1874 and liked what he saw. He made his professional painting debut at the Second Impressionist Exhibition in 1876, showing his earliest masterpiece, Les Raboteurs de Parque (The Floor Scrapers.) Although it has been nearly 15 years since I saw this painting at the de Young Museum, I still remember people standing in front of it in awe. It is a large canvas (40-1/8 x 57-5/8 inches) and because it projected a stunning glow and had a unique subject of physicality, it really garnered lots of attention.

Planning a visit to Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery? We are pleased to host you. Prior to your visit, if you are drawn to any paintings from our online collection, please give us advance word and we can have that painting (or paintings) available for you when you arrive.

Come for a day of crab and chowder, some great scenery and view some terrific art. Our chocolates bowl is ready! You can sip a cup of coffee from our neighbor Roadhouse Coffee or you can enjoy the art gallery prior to your reservation with our other neighbor Terrapin Creek Cafe.