The deYoung Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Julie Royce's picture

Pablo Picasso once vowed, “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.” His long, prolific career and prodigious talent allowed him to keep his promise. The Picasso exhibit lured me to the deYoung last October. Gallery after gallery displayed work selected from the permanent collection of the Musee National Picasso in Paris. It was an art adventure extraordinaire.

 

Picasso - Welcome to a collection from the master’s works

Picasso - Welcome to a collection from the master’s works

 

 

A larger than life artist who produced art for 80 of his 91 years, Picasso was a superstitious man who believed work kept him alive. That conviction, whether founded or not, was the world’s good fortune. The night he died, Picasso and his wife entertained friends at dinner. The master’s last words were, “Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink anymore.”

 

 

When I walked away from the last Picasso painting, I reflected on what had drawn me to the amazing de Young on previous visits: The location (lush Golden Gate Park), the compelling structure (boasting 950,000 pounds of copper, 300,000 pounds of glass, and 7,200 copper panels with 1.5 million embossings), and twelve permanent exhibits (occupying 73,200 square feet). In the past I’ve meandered the gardens to cap a perfect experience.

 

deYoung Museum grounds

deYoung Museum grounds

 

Photo Courtesy of the de Young Museum

Photo Courtesy of the de Young Museum 

 

 

The exhibit’s next stop will be at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto from April 28 through August 26, 2012 and it could provide one of many reasons to visit Toronto.

 

 

If you are in San Francisco before February 12, 2012 you can treat yourself to a special exhibit at the de Young: Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of passion and Power from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.  And opening on March 24th, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk.

 

Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian. Danaë. ca. 1560. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian. Danaë. ca. 1560. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

 

 

 

Museum hours:  Open Tuesday through Sunday 9:30 am to 5:15 pm.
Friday (mid-January through November only) 9:30 am to 8:45 pm.
Closed Mondays and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

 

For additional information check deyoung.famsf.org. 

 

 

 

Julie Albrecht Royce, Travel Adventures Editor, is the author of Traveling Michigan's Sunset Coast and Traveling Michigan's Thumb, both published by Thunder Bay Press. She writes a monthly column for Wandering Educators.

 

 

 

 

 

Feature photo: Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian. Danaë. ca. 1560. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.