About The Getty Center
In August I shared photographs of our visit to The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California. Now I'm featuring pictures from our tour of The Getty Center, a second Getty campus in the Los Angeles area.
The Getty Center was opened on December 16, 1997. It is a stunning place to visit, with remarkable architecture, beautiful gardens, and striking views of Los Angeles.
"Getty is a leading global arts organization committed to exhibiting, conserving, and understanding the world’s artistic and cultural heritage."
This is their mission according to the about Getty page. In my opinion, they are doing a superb job of fulfilling this mission.
If you live near or visit Los Angeles or the Southern California area, this is a beautiful place to visit. Entry is free; you simply need to make a reservation for the time you want to go.
If you only have time to visit one of the two locations, I recommend The Villa if you like architecture and history, and The Center if you prefer looking at paintings and sculptures.
Art or Architecture
The Center has much to see of both art and architecture. While I do appreciate art, I am more passionate about architecture. Accordingly, the majority of my pictures are of buildings and gardens more than the paintings and sculptures.
Ironically, we spent several more hours observing the artwork as compared to the buildings. There are several pavilions where the works are displayed, each one contains many rooms, and within each room are dozens of pieces.
Like the Getty Villa, the Center was built with money left to a trust by J. Paul Getty. It is an educational center and an art museum. Here is a Google Maps link to the location, which also has many photos available uploaded by other visitors.
The Map
Since childhood, I've been fascinated with maps and guidebooks. So, I almost always grab a guidebook and take a picture of any maps when visiting a new place. This trip was no exception.
Here is the general layout of the area showing the various buildings. Most of the paintings are located within each pavilion building. Each pavilion is connected by walkways and you can walk to each one easily once inside.
Image source: Wikipedia photo.
This would be an ideal place to take pictures with a drone or from the air. I didn't get any of my own like this, but here is one from Wikipedia that captures most of the entire compound in one shot. There are many great aerial views on Google Photos if you want to see more.
Museum Entrance Hall
This is the first thing you see as you exit the tram from the parking garage and step onto the arrival plaza.
It's difficult to convey how peaceful and clean it is here. The atmosphere was serene and it wasn't at all crowded during our visit.
Restaurant and Cafe
After walking up the first flight of stairs, looking to our right, we saw the restaurant and cafe area. There was plenty of open space to walk and appreciate the sights.
Museum Courtyard
This location didn't have a specific name on the map. It's a large courtyard located outside the main entrance building hall, in between the many pavilion buildings.
This was a tranquil water feature extending almost the entire length of the inner courtyard. It was a relaxing place to sit and listen to the sounds of the water.
There are plenty of tables and chairs to sit and relax. They had a couple of small concession stands where you can purchase a snack or beverage.
This water feature is right in front of the West Pavilion, another ideal spot to sit and relax.
This is the same water feature looking back towards the Museum Entrance Hall.
Los Angeles Skyline
You can walk outside on the top floors of the pavilion for a grand view of Los Angeles. Just to the right of this is Santa Monica and the Pacific Ocean.
Research Institute
This is the Research Institute building. We didn't go inside; most of it was not open to the public anyway. The The Getty Center website has a wonderful view of this building from above.
Central Garden
The Central Garden was probably my favorite location and the most memorable. I took this picture from behind the garden, looking towards the entrance. That is the Research Institute on the left and the West Pavilion on the right.
The two shots above are from the front of the garden. Just like The Villa, the plants are manicured to near perfection.
There are walkways around the perimeter of the garden with several trellis features overhead. This place has no shortage of photo opportunities.
Italian Paintings
Although the museum has hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of paintings, I didn't take many pictures as I was focused on being present and appreciating the artwork. This one from 1300-1400 caught my attention because of the size and age.
The image doesn't do justice to the size of this piece. My best guess is it's easily 6-8' wide and 8-10' tall. It really is magnificent.
Farewell
I hope you enjoyed this photo tour of The Getty Center. Take a look at Google photos, Google Maps, or the official website for more images. You could spend countless hours admiring everything they have on display.
If you ever have the chance, I recommend going to visit. Even if only for a few hours.
P.S. If you play Call of Duty, Modern Warfare II has a map Valderas Museum based on The Getty Center in Spain. I've played the map before and the similarities are striking.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!
