The Getty Museum
We went to the Getty Museum on the Sunday after the Fourth of July. Everyone leaves Los Angeles for a long summer weekend because its so darned hot. The traffic was easy going this day, so the drive down the 405 was a snap.
You park a fair distance from the museum and take a tram up the mountain (yes, the museum is on top of a tall hill or short mountain - you decide which it is).
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The start of the trolley up the hill to the museum |
The museum complex is huge; when you get off the trolley, you walk up a short path to the main entrance.
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The
main entrance to the Getty Museum |
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Aviva with a sculpture near the entrance |
We started with lunch at the Garden Terrace Cafe, which is a small prepackaged food area that overlooks a garden and part of LA. My sandwich was very good and Aviva liked her salad.
We didn't see the whole museum (it would probably take five to six hours to walk through the whole thing) - we wanted to see the two special exhibits and the collection of early European paintings. They claimed to have a room of Symbolist work, but it was really just late 19th and early 20th century art.
So we started with the early European paintings.
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Rembrandt,
"Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold Trimmed Cloak", 1632 |
The first special exhibit we saw was "Imagining Christ." From the accompanying pamphlet:
"The Illuminations in this exhibition demonstrate the multiple, overlapping ways in which Christ was understood to be simultaneously human and divine, the son of God and God, the sacrifice made for mankind, and the divine judge who would save or condemn humanity at the end of time."
There were some outstanding illuminations in this show which spanned two galleries.
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Giovanni Boccaccio, "The Story of Adam and Eve",
ca. 1415 |
The second special exhibit displayed the influences and work of Maria Sibylla Merian and daughters, called "Women of Art and Science." Merian was an accomplished businesswoman, artist and scientist. She travelled to Germany, the Netherlands and South America. Her most famous works were books showing the transformation of animals, for example tadpole to frog or catepiller to moth.
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The cover of the brochure for the show features
one of Merian's illustrations |
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Albrecht Durer was an influence on Merian - one
of his illustrations from the show |
When you visit the Getty Museum, plan to spend some time walking around the grounds. The views of Los Angeles are amazing, and the gardens at the museum are wonderful.
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A
raised garden |
A
fountain |
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One of the gardens on the grounds |
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One
of the reflecting fountains |
A
green rooftop overlooking the Hollywood hills |
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A view of downtown Los Angeles from
one of the parapets |
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I'll update this page with new shows we see at the Getty.