The Getty Center, Los Angeles

The Getty Center, Los Angeles

Located on top of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Getty Center is one of two locations of the J.

Located on top of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Getty Center is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the other being the Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades. It is regarded as the finest museum in the USA, matched only by the National Gallery of Art in DC. The Getty Center houses a rich collection of Medieval to pre-20th century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts, along with 19th - 20th century American, European, and Asian photographs, and contemporary and modern sculpture. Designed by Richard Meier, the complex also features Robert Irwin's Central Garden. You can get spectacular views of the L.A. basin and Pacific Ocean from here.

The permanent collection is chronologically arranged across 4 pavilions - North, South, East, and West, on 3 levels.

• The North Pavilion presents paintings dating up to 1600, as well as medieval and Renaissance sculpture and decorative arts such as glass and majolica. Its highlight is the Augsburg Display Cabinet from 1630, a 29 inch tall Kabinettschrank for storing and exhibiting valuables and curiosities. The Sacred Art collection includes stained-glass panels and Titian's 'Venus and Adonis'.
• The East Pavilion features primarily 17th-century Baroque art, including Dutch, French, Flemish, and Spanish paintings, as well as sculpture and Italian decorative arts dating from 1600 to 1800. Highlights include the self-portrait of Rembrandt Laughing, along with other masterpieces by the artist such as such as 'An Old Man in Military Costume', 'Saint Bartholomew', and 'The Abduction of Europa'. Also on display are 'The Entombment' by Rubens, 'Christ Crowned with Thorns' by Gerrit van Honthorst, and 'Astronomer by Candlelight' by Gerrit Dou.
• The South Pavilion houses 18th-century paintings and the majority of the Museum's European decorative arts collection, complete with elaborately furnished paneled rooms. Highlights include 'The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis' by Jacques-Louis David, 'Dancer Taking a Bow' by Degas, 'View of the Grand Canal Santa Maria del Salute' by Bernardo Bellotto, 'Portrait of Louis XIV' by Hyacinthe Rigaud's workshop, and 'Portrait of James Christie' and 'Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield' by Thomas Gainsborough.
• The West Pavilion features sculpture and Italian decorative arts of the 1700s through 1900, 19th-century paintings, and the Center for Photographs. Neoclassical, Romantic, and Symbolist sculpture and decorative arts are also on displat. Highlights include Vincent van Gogh's 'Irises', Pierre-Auguste Renoir's 'La Promenade' and 'Portrait of Albert Cahen d'Anvers', Caspar David Friedrich's 'A Walk at Dusk', Edvard Munch's 'Starry Night', and Claude Monet's 'The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light' and 'Wheatstack'.
• The Getty's sculpture collection has works from 2500 BCE to the present day, which are arranged around the sculpture gardens and other parts of the complex. From antique Greek statues, reliefs and figurines, and Roman terracottas and marbles, through Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque masterpieces to Modern works by Joan Miro and Henry Moore, the collection encompasses a variety of media and movements.