SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Coincidentally timed with the
special
exhibition Birth of Impressionism at the de Young Museum, John E.
Buchanan, Jr.,
the director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, announces the
acquisition of The Absinthe Drinkers (Les buveurs d’absinthe), 1881, by
the
French painter Jean-François Raffaëlli (1850–1924). Widely regarded as
one of
the artist’s most important and accomplished paintings, The Absinthe
Drinkers
will temporarily grace the entrance of the Birth of Impressionism
exhibition
this summer before settling into its permanent home in gallery 19 at the
Legion
of Honor.