The painting has been in the city's orbit for decades, originally purchased by the legendary Stein family (yes, those Steins — Gertrude, Leo, and company) right here in the Bay Area's artistic ecosystem. It eventually found its permanent home at SFMOMA, where it's been quietly flexing as one of the most important works of early modern art in any American collection.

Now it's getting the full exhibition treatment — context, history, and all the art-world drama that surrounded its debut at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris, where critics absolutely lost their minds over its bold, "unfinished" style. The painting helped launch Fauvism, a movement that basically said: colors don't have to make sense, they just have to make you feel something.

Here's our take: SFMOMA charges a hefty $25 general admission (more if you're not a local), and we're perpetually skeptical of institutions that vacuum up public goodwill and private donations while ticket prices climb. But when they do something right — when they take a world-class piece from their permanent collection and build a thoughtful, accessible show around it — credit where it's due.

This is SFMOMA playing to its strengths instead of chasing trendy blockbuster exhibitions shipped in from elsewhere. One painting. Deep context. Local history. No gimmicks.

If you've been looking for an excuse to actually go to SFMOMA instead of just walking past it on the way to Yerba Buena Gardens, this is it. First Thursdays are free for Bay Area residents — set a calendar reminder and go see the hat.