Opening in 1924 as a gift to San Francisco, the Legion of Honor is now a cornerstone of the San Francisco Bay Area’s vibrant cultural community. Discover the dynamic women who were key in founding the museum and developing its world-class art collection.

Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, “Big Alma”

Sir John Lavery’s portrait of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, dominated by her towering torso, affirms that her nickname “Big Alma” was spot on. This moniker was not just an homage to Alma’s extraordinary 6-foot stature, but also took into account her larger-than-life esprit that fueled such grand endeavors like the Legion of Honor.

How did the daughter of Danish immigrants come to bring this cultural project into being? Alma’s affinity for the arts started early. As a young model for San Francisco Bay Area artists, Alma earned enough wages to support both her impoverished family and pursue miniature painting at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. In 1908, the San Francisco Examiner announced Alma, “the accomplished young artist of this city,” as the new bride of Adolph B. Spreckels, heir to the Spreckels Sugar Company.

Alma now possessed the financial resources to scale up her art-filled aspirations. However, it was ultimately the influence, inspiration, and generosity of other women — a dancer, European queens, an American heiress, and an art collector — that led Alma to uncover this dream’s form as a public art museum.

Loïe Fuller, the dancer

American dancer Loïe Fuller’s innovative spectacles of light and color, most notably the Serpentine dance, secured her fame on international stages. Alma first encountered “La Loïe” Fuller (great women get great nicknames) on a trip to Paris in 1914. Through Fuller’s introduction, Alma met renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin. As Rodin’s self-appointed agent and champion, Fuller successfully brokered the sale of 10 of his works, including The Thinker, to Alma. All were exhibited in San Francisco at the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition. 

The resounding success of the exhibition motivated the patroness to find a more permanent, public, home for her art collection. As Alma began to evolve her idea into the Legion of Honor, Fuller remained a steadfast supplier of Rodin works, now the bedrock of the Legion collection. 

Queens of Europe

The onset of World War I would momentarily shift Alma’s priorities. At Fuller’s behest, Alma fundraised to aid the Allied countries of France, Belgium, and Romania. The latter country was chosen due to Fuller’s friendship with Queen Marie of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, whose family Fuller first performed for in 1902. Connected through Fuller, Alma corresponded with Queen Marie throughout the war and traveled to Romania after the conflict’s conclusion. Here, Alma looked to Queen Marie for support of her burgeoning museum. Not only an art institution, the Legion of Honor would be a memorial to the 3,600 Californians who lost their lives in World War I. 

Grateful for Alma’s war relief efforts, Queen Marie, an artist herself, sent copies of gilded furniture of her own design to San Francisco. She also crowdsourced her family for donations to the Legion. Marie’s sister, Victoria “Ducky” Melita, Grand Duchess Kyril of Russia, gave examples of her own flower painting and a Fabergé tea set. Queen Marie’s daughter, Queen Elisabeth of Greece, gave over 150 works of ancient Greek and Italian pottery. Another daughter, Queen Maria of Serbia, gave textiles from her native Romania.

Arabella Huntington, American heiress

The Legion’s royal patronage proved a coup for Alma. Never fully accepted into San Francisco society, Alma continued to look elsewhere to solicit art for the museum. A Spreckels family connection landed New Yorker Archer Huntington, stepson of railway magnate Collis P. Huntington, in this pursuit. Influenced by his mother, Arabella Huntington, a voracious art collector and cofounder of the Huntington Library in San Marino, Archer prioritized museums in his philanthropic ventures.

For a decade starting in 1926, Archer consistently gave gifts to the Legion — tapestries, 20th-century sculpture, Renaissance paintings. Some of the most exquisite of these gifts, like a pair of 18th-century leaping carp vases, came from Arabella’s personal collection, anchoring French 18th-century art as one of the Legion’s collection strengths. While Archer Huntington and his stepfather Collis are the names attributed to these gifts, they would never have been possible without Arabella.

Mildred Anna Williams, the art collector

Alma found further success away from her home turf with the glamorous Mildred “Millie” Anna Williams. The New York resident (though Californian by birth) pledged more than 60 artworks to the Legion upon her death. This gift included El Greco’s Saint Peter, Arthur Devis’ charming portraits of the Carpenter siblings, and John Constable’s sketch-like Arundel Mill, made as a “. . . token of [her] deep love for the City of San Francisco.”

At her death in 1939, Williams’s charitable sentiments were realized as Legion administrators hurried to pack and ship the collection from her Parisian residence to San Francisco on the last steamer leaving France as World War II commenced. An additional cash bequest from Williams further enabled the Legion to enhance its holdings with the purchase of Thomas Gainsborough’s Portrait of Mrs. Maria Anne Fitzherbert and Louis Le Nain’s Peasants Before Their House. Through Williams’s contributions, the Legion of Honor began to house a serious collection of European paintings.

Closing thoughts

A dancer, European queens, an American heiress, and an art collector: these women made their mark on the Legion of Honor. Their stories tie into a larger story. The late 19th and early 20th century saw the rise of museums across America, intended to improve and nurture the public. Decidedly mothering in mission, this rise allowed women, finally, to participate in a public forum. Denied participation in other political and social realms, no wonder many women, like Alma Spreckels, jumped at the opportunity to found museums. Assembling a museum is no passive feat — and the early tenacity of these women has ensured that the Legion of Honor is still thriving and evolving today, even after 100 years.