Inaugural Exposition of French Art in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1924-1925, November 11, 1924-[April 1925]

In 1915, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels fell in love with the French Pavilion at San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition. This pavilion was a replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris (originally called the Hôtel de Salm), one of the distinguished 18th-century landmarks on the left bank of the Seine.

She persuaded her husband, sugar magnate Adolph B. Spreckels, to recapture the beauty of the pavilion as a new art museum for San Francisco. At the close of the 1915 exposition, the French government granted them permission to construct a permanent replica of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur. Unfortunately, World War I delayed the groundbreaking for this ambitious project until 1921.

Alma Spreckels wanted the museum to be dedicated to showcasing the art of France, in particular, that of famed French artist Auguste Rodin. It was her goal to bring his work to the West Coast of the United States. With the guidance of her friend, dancer Loie Fuller, who originally introduced Spreckels to Rodin, she traveled to France dozens of times to purchase artworks and explore new names in the French art scene.

Constructed at remote Land’s End, on the site of a cemetery called Potter’s Field, the Legion opened on Armistice Day, November 11, 1924, as the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. In keeping with the wishes of the donors, to “honor the dead while serving the living,” it was accepted by the city as a museum of fine arts dedicated to the memory of the 3,600 California men who had lost their lives on the battlefields of France during World War I.

French art at the time of this exhibition was described as having greatly developed due to the hardships endured in World War I. The present exhibition was intended to display the achievements of French art up to this point, drawing attention to the leaders of the French School from 1850 to the turn of the century. Contemporary artists were included as well, displaying three points of view through three different mediums, painting, sculpture, and decorative arts. Through this grand exhibition, all aspects of French art could be compared and appreciated.