Emma Herlihy
News Editor

As the clock hit 5 p.m., the lights in the de Young museum dimmed and music came on as the wine bar rolled out for the cultural encounter event Friday Nights at the de Young at which the museum offers a free zone with a multitude of activities including live music, lectures, poetry, films and dance performances — although admission is charged for the regular explanation.

The Oct. 15 event, “Soirées with the Alliance Française,” took visitors back to the streets of 1930’s Paris by featuring the music of Baguette Quartette, a four-piece band that plays a variety of instruments not widely used in modern music.
The French theme continued with Tableaux Vivants (living pictures), an exhibit of the works by Berthe Morisot, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Gauguin.
Other events that evening included an artist demonstration by Chuck Feesago and Dan Taulapapa, a hands-on creation of Can-Can paper dolls for visitors, and the lecture, “On Track to Impressionism: How Art Derailed the Orsay Station” by historian Anne Prah-Perochon.
France has given Prah-Perochon, a Fullbright Scholar, two prestigious awards, the Legion of Honor and the Palmes Académiques, for her contribution of French language and culture in the United States. She discussed how Impressionism revolutionized art but was controversial during its time.
Although Evenings at the de Young have an adult feeling to them because of the central bar and lack of youth in attendance, activities are well applicable to a younger audience as well.
Friday Nights at the de Young runs through Nov. 26 from 5 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. The 2011 season begins again on Jan. 14. More information is available at http://deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/culturalencounters.