Image of visitors viewing Mike Henderson's "The Scream" at the de Young museum

According to artist Mike Henderson, art flows freely through him.

“You don’t know if [the art is] good or bad,” he told Black Camera in a 2015 interview, “just that you have to do it and trust what comes through to you.” His 1966 painting The Scream transmutes his feelings of anger and confusion into an urgent statement on the human condition that is difficult to overlook. In our latest blog post, Henderson describes the visceral feelings that inspired this bold work and the implications it carries for today.

Learn more about Henderson’s The Scream, now on view at the de Young museum.

Learn More
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Art Project: The Colors and Gestures of Emotion

What you'll need: Colored papers and oil pastels or colored pencils or paints.

Two artworks by Jill McLennan highlighting repetition.
Your use of color and gesture can express different emotions in your art. Do you use warm or cool tones? Is the line you draw squiggly or straight, heavy or faint? Make an artwork that communicates the emotions you have experienced in 2020. How have you been feeling lately? What emotions do you want to release? What emotions would you like to embrace? Close your eyes and envision the colors and gestures of these emotions. Select a color of paper and a range of oil pastels in one color family that represent your feeling. Start with a gestural line across the page. Continue to fill the page, overlapping and blending colors until your piece feels complete.
Prompt developed by Jill McLennan, teaching artist

We want to showcase your creativity! Send a photo of your Art Project based on this prompt to digitalmarketing@famsf.org. Please include your full name, city of residence, and a sentence or two about your work.

See Art Project Submissions
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Don't Miss

Check out the event lineup for Virtual Wednesdays, broadcast every Wednesday at 5 pm on YouTube.
Detail of Celia Stahr's book cover "Frida in America"
November 18: Learn more about Frida Kahlo’s time in the United States and the impact it had on her personal and artistic journey with Celia Stahr, scholar and author of Frida in America. See event details.
November 25: Join us for a live discussion with Isabella Holland on The de Young Open and its connection to public art exhibitions founded in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. See event details.
December 2: Meet some of the local artists featured in our exhibition, The de Young Open. Curator Timothy Anglin Burgard hosts a discussion with Orin Carpenter, Evri Kwong, and Rupy C. Tut. See event details.
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Links We Love

Enjoy a roundup of links selected by our staff.

\   Learn how to “read” the artistic details of a Luba figure from our permanent collection.

\   Exhibition tour: Immerse yourself in Frida Kahlo’s vibrant artistry.

\   See how Mike Henderson integrates his love for music into his canvases.

\   “You have her energy”—a Frida Kahlo look-alike actor on how they were discovered.

\   Carrie Mae Weems on the future of art.

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Quotes from Our Collections

Image of Rothko's 1948 "Untitled" painting
“The most important tool the artist fashions through constant practice is the faith in his ability to produce miracles when they are needed. Pictures must be miraculous.”

— Mark Rothko

Pictured: Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1948 (click to enlarge)
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de Young museum: Golden Gate Park \ 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118 \ 415-750-3600 \ deyoungmuseum.org \ Hours: Tuesdays–Sundays, 9:30 am–5:15 pm
Legion of Honor museum: Lincoln Park \ 100 34th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94121 \ 415-750-3600 \ legionofhonor.org \ Hours: Tuesdays–Sundays, 9:30 am–5:15 pm
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Image credits: Photograph by Gary Sexton

Frida in America, book cover. Courtesy of the artist

Pietro Antonio Martini after J.H. Ramberg, The Exhibition at the Royal Academy, 1787. Etching and engraving 14 3/16 x 20 3/4 in. (36 x 52.7 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Museum purchase, 1978.1.33

John Bonick, Wired (The Golden Thicket). © John Bonick, image courtesy of the artist; Christopher Williams, detail of The Long Goodbye. © Christopher Williams, image courtesy of the artist; jesuuna, detail of Ophelia. © jesuuna, image courtesy of the artist; Pablo Villicana, detail of Maya. © Pablo Villicana, image courtesy of the artist; Carmen McNall, detail of In Her Own Element. © Carmen McNall, image courtesy of the artist; Steve Mainini, detail of Homage to Michelangelo. © Steve Mainini, image courtesy of the artist; Lorenz Sonneman, detail of The River Thing King. © Lorenz Sonneman, image courtesy of the artist; Orin Carpenter, detail of Can You Hear Me Now?! © Orin Carpenter, image courtesy of the artist; Diana Liu Benet, detail of Heritage Moves. © Diana Liu Benet, image courtesy of the artist.

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1948. Oil on canvas, 68 x 34 1/2 x 2 in. (172.7 x 87.6 x 5.1 cm). Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Bequest of Josephine Morris, 2003.25.5. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York