The Getty Museum Los Angeles displays mostly pre-twentieth century works of art by artists such as Rembrandt and Van Gogh. The Getty holdings also include an impressive collection of antiquities, displayed at the Getty Villa in Malibu. The most famous holding at the Getty Museum Los Angeles may be Van Gogh's Irises, which the museum purchased in 1990.
The Getty Trust is so richly endowed that curators say they can buy almost anything they like, and they display their acquisitions in style. Each gallery has computer-controlled louvers near the ceiling that allow a controlled amount of natural light into the gallery. Coupled with a system of cool and warm artificial light, the system allows the paintings to reveal themselves in the same natural light they were painted in.
Seeing the Getty Museum Los Angeles Collections
The extensive collection of the Getty Museum Los Angeles is house in five separate buildings, named by their location (east, west, etc.) and organized chronologically. In each building, the ground floor is dedicated to sculpture, decorative arts and the like, with paintings upstairs.
- North Building: hItems from before 1600 including illuminated manuscripts,
- East and South Buildings: 1600 to 1800
- West Building: After 1800, including the Van Gogh Irises and the photography collection
- Research Institute: Changing exhibitions
To learn more about what you're seeing, check the daily schedule when you arrive for gallery talks and docent tours, or rent a GettyGuide audio tour (highly recommended). In the sculpture garden, you can use your cell phone to get a free audio tour. Pick up an explanatory brochure at the information desk.
More About the Getty Museum Los Angeles Collections
To read more about the Getty Museum Los Angeles collections, you may want to browse the online GettyGuide or buy The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections
More: Visiting Getty Museum Los Angeles | Getty Museum Los Angeles Architecture | Getty Museum Los Angeles Gardens
