''Hearts in San Francisco'' is an annual public art installation started in 2004 by the

San Francisco General Hospital The Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a Public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I Trauma Ce ...

Foundation for the purpose of fundraising. The project is inspired by the international

CowParade CowParade is an international public art exhibit that has featured in major world cities. Fiberglass sculptures of cows are decorated by local artists, and distributed over the city centre, in public places such as train stations, important avenu ...

exhibit, in which cow sculptures are painted by various artists and installed in various cities throughout the world. The choice of hearts is inspired by the

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birth ...

song "

I Left My Heart in San Francisco "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a popular song, written in the fall of 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, with music by George Cory (1920–1978) and lyrics by Douglass Cross and best known as the signature song of Tony Bennett. In 1962, the s ...

Background

Each year, uniform heart sculptures are painted by different artists and installed at locations throughout

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, including

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

. The heart sculptures are auctioned off at the end of each year's installation with the proceeds going to the foundation. Many of the previous years' sculptures are exhibited in various locations, including

San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomi ...

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

AT&T Park Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curren ...

(inside the Public House pub),

Pier 39 Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of Cali ...

, the Lyon Street Steps,

Moscone Center The George R. Moscone Convention Center (pronounced ), popularly known as the Moscone Center, is the largest convention and exhibition complex in San Francisco, California. The complex consists of three main halls spread out across three block ...

, and the

Cartoon Art Museum The Cartoon Art Museum (CAM) is a California art museum that specializes in the art of comics and cartoons. It is the only museum in the Western United States dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of all forms of cartoon art. The permanent ...

. As of 2013, approximately $10 million had been raised for the foundation. Notable contributing artists have included Mark Adams,

Don Asmussen Donald Asmussen (October 31, 1962 – December 9, 2021) was an American cartoonist working for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and Universal Press Syndicate. Career Asmussen was born in Rhode Island. Early in his career, he published collages a ...

Squeak Carnwath Squeak Carnwath (born 1947 in Abington, Pennsylvania) is a contemporary American painter and arts educator. She is a Professor Emerita of Art at University of California, Berkeley. Background Carnwath has explained "Squeak" as "a childhood name ...

, Alan Chin,

Roy De Forest Roy De Forest (11 February 1930 – 18 May 2007) was an American Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor, and teacher. He was involved in both the Funk art and Nut art movements in the Bay Area of California. De Forest's art is known for its quirk ...

Linda Fleming Linda Fleming (born in 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American sculpture and university professor. She is currently teaches at California College of the Arts (CCA). She lives and works in Benicia, California, as well as maintaining stu ...

Phil Frank Phil Frank (March 27, 1943 – September 13, 2007) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the San Francisco-based comic strip ''Farley'' and the artist on nationally syndicated comic strip ''The Elderberries''. Works In additio ...

, Tim Gaskin,

Mildred Howard Mildred Howard (born 1945) is an African-American artist known primarily for her sculptural installation and mixed-media assemblages.Baker, Kenneth"Artist Intrigued by Interaction of Materials, Ability to Revise at Will", ''San Francisco Chronicl ...

Norman Korpi Norman Korpi (born in Wakefield, Michigan) is an American painter, fashion designer, filmmaker and reality television star. He is best known for being one of the original cast members/roommates on the first season of the MTV reality show '' ...

Jon Langford Jonathan Denis Langford (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Langford is a founder member of the punk band The Mekons, the post-punk group The Three Johns, and the alternative country ...

Hung Liu Hung Liu (劉虹) (17 February 1948 – 7 August 2021) was a Chinese Americans, Chinese-born American contemporary artist. She was predominantly a painter, but also worked with mixed-media and site-specific installation and was also one of the f ...

, Kara Maria, Silvia Poloto,

Stan Dann Stan F. Dann (born May 23, 1931 Burnaby, British Columbia, died May 8, 2013 in Lafayette, California) was a contemporary Northern California artist known for his puzzle-like bas-relief wall sculptures of polychrome wood. His earlier commercial caree ...

, Precita Eyes Muralists,

Rex Ray Rex Ray (September 11, 1956 – February 9, 2015) was an American graphic designer and collage artist, based in San Francisco. Biography Born as Michael Patterson on September 11, 1956, on a United States Army base in Germany, and he was raised ...

Rigo 23 Rigo 23 (born Ricardo Gouveia, 1966) is a Portuguese-born American muralist, painter, and political artist. He is known in the San Francisco community for having painted a number of large, graphic "sign" murals including: ''One Tree'' next to the ...

, Bill Russell, Monika Steiner, Laurel True, and Eric Zener.

References

External links

Union Square, San Francisco Culture of San Francisco {{SanFrancisco-stub