On November 11, 1924, the Legion of Honor opened its doors, inaugurating its presence in San Francisco as an exceptional art museum and a war memorial dedicated to the California soldiers who perished in France during the First World War. For one hundred years, the Legion of Honor has offered its visitors countless encounters with works of art, presenting ambitious exhibitions, showcasing contemporary artists, and developing a permanent collection unlike any other in the city. This lecture will take a stroll through the past to reflect on the history of the iconic museum in Lincoln Park, recalling the artists, community members, philanthropists, and staff whose valuable contributions and engagement formed a cultural institution built to last.

About the curator

Isabella Lores-Chavez is associate curator of European paintings at FAMSF, where she oversees Dutch and Flemish paintings. She was the 2020–2022 Samuel H. Kress Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts and has worked at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where in 2013 she organized the exhibition Dutch and French Genre Drawings from the Robert Lehman Collection. She completed her PhD at Columbia University in 2022.

Ticket info

Free program. Entry to the permanent collection galleries and the special exhibition Mary Cassatt at Work is free. 

Legion of Honor 100 Celebration Sponsor

Contact info

Public Programs
publicprograms@famsf.org
415.750.7694