Story. J. Paul Getty, oil tycoon. In the middle of the 20th century, he was the richest man in the world. During his life, he collected an excellent collection of paintings and sculptures by the old masters of Europe. Before his death, he invested a large sum of money in the construction of a museum where his collection of paintings would be exhibited.
The museum's collection quickly replenished due to the fact that its management bought up objects of world art at auctions. She did it so zealously that they caused an exorbitant rise in prices for painting, sculpture and arts and crafts all over the world.
Peculiarities. The Paul Getty Museum is the most visited in Los Angeles; a million people enjoy its permanent exhibition every year.
The museum has five pavilions: graphics, painting, sculpture, arts and crafts and manuscripts. The exhibits of each hall are arranged in strict chronological order.
The layout of the museum is so unusual that it deserves special mention. The second floors of each pavilion are interconnected by glass terraces, from where you can see a beautiful panorama of the city. The lighting of each pavilion is as close to natural as possible so that museum visitors can see the beauty of the exposition.
Useful information. Entrance to the museum is free. Opening hours: all days except Saturday from 10:00 to 17:30, Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00, Monday is a day off.
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Getty Museum(Getty Center), located in the building of the same name on the territory of the Brentwood district, in, is a modern art museum named after the influential collector and oil magnate Paul Getty, with whose funds it was built. Now the complex building occupies an impressive piece of space on the slope of picturesque hills and includes 5 pavilions with different names. Thus, the Northern Pavilion has paintings and sculptures that were born before the 17th century, the Eastern Pavilion contains samples of Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French and Spanish painting of the 17th-18th centuries, in the Southern Pavilion you can see objects of decorative art and antique furniture, the Western Pavilion belongs to the modern era. The last one, the Exhibition Pavilion, hosts temporary exhibitions.
During his lifetime, Paul Getty was a fanatical collector of valuable antiques and art. At his villa, located in the Malibu region, the oil magnate periodically organized exhibitions, where he amazed distinguished guests with the rarest collectibles. In 1976, before his death, Getty ordered that his foundation act as the main financial component for the construction of the museum, which later became the Getty Museum (Getty Center). The construction of the museum was carried out according to the project of the architect Richard Meyer and required significant financial costs, resulting in a total amount of $ 1.2 billion, which significantly exceeded the originally estimated figure of 350 million.
The interior of the museum is extremely interesting and attractive. Photo collections are hung in the galleries of each pavilion, and the second floors are connected to each other with the help of glazed bridges and open terraces, from where you can admire gorgeous views of Los Angeles. Graceful sculptural compositions flaunt between the buildings. In the central part of the complex there is a swimming pool with a luxurious garden. Thanks to the abundance of transparent glass, the rooms are filled with daylight, which allows visitors to enjoy the art in natural light.
The Getty Museum fully corresponds to its status and is an excellent repository for unique paintings and sculptures collected over many decades. Entrance to the museum is free, which further contributes to its high popularity. The buildings of the complex are well equipped and equipped with everything necessary, so guests can feel absolutely comfortable here. A visit here is an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the world of art and provides an opportunity to broaden one's cultural horizons.
If you were the richest person on earth, how would you manage your inheritance?
Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty (1892-1976), who by the time of his death was the richest man in the world, left his multi-billion dollar fortune to create an arts center. In 1997, the Getty Center was opened in Los Angeles, at a cost of $1.3 billion to build.
Here is a museum, gardens (how is California without gardens?), Research Institute. Getty, the Getty Foundation, which provides grants for the "study and preservation of the visual arts" and the administration of the Getty Trust. By the way, the management of the trust set about buying up the paintings of great artists so zealously that during the 1980s. they were accused of creating an artificial hype in the art market, which led to a rise in prices.
Entrance to the Getty Center is free, you just have to pay for parking. There are also many free guided tours of the museum and garden throughout the day. On this day (the second day of our trip) the weather deteriorated - it was cold, windy and cloudy. Accordingly, the photos are such - non-solar.
From the parking lot, the local train brings you to the main building of the center:
The place for the center was chosen on the top of the mountain.
This is how it looks from above.
The architect of the complex - Richard Meyer chose a modern, minimalist style for buildings with a predominant white color. The main element is the grid (lattice structure), which is used in both cladding and windows.
And he had special requirements for landscape design, so that the plants would be combined with the architecture of the buildings.
How many trees do you see in this photo? :)
It seems that there is only one thing, since they are aligned in location, their trunks and crowns are literally identical.
Now look a little at an angle.
How did they manage to ensure that the trees since 1997 retained their ideal shape and did not grow?
They are all planted in container pots. The size of the roots, limited by the container, does not allow them to grow and determines the size of the crown. Believe it or not, these trees also grow in containers, sort of big bonsai.
A very interesting and energetic woman told us about architecture and gardens. She works as a psychoanalyst and on weekends as a volunteer tour guide at the Getty Center.
The only "non-white" color in the architecture of the center is the lilac color of the pergala. But the condition was set by the architect that the wisteria plant in this case was white.
Zhenya lost his vigilance and got into my frame. No doubt the architect would have approved of his shirt color choice :) Yes, and I matched - my reflection in a white jacket in his glasses.
An artist (Robert Irwin) was hired to decorate the interior garden, not a professional landscaper. In his palette of garden colors - about 200 shades of green but also interspersed with bright colors. In the design, he used the usual inexpensive materials - stones, iron.
These vases are built from ordinary iron rods. A climbing shrub has been living in them since 1997.
The sounds of running water are woven into the overall harmony of the garden.
Finally freezing on the tour but warmly saying goodbye to our dear lady, we went to the museum.
The building is designed in such a way that from each wing of the museum there is an exit to the street, to its own part of the garden.
This was not done by chance, many people, walking through large museums, feel tired and tired, there is even such a thing as museum fatigue. To avoid this, on each floor, in each wing, open promenades were built, from which a beautiful view of Los Angeles below and the Getty Center itself opens.
In one of the halls we found a lecture-lesson. Students made sketches of a ballerina.
One of the museum's most famous paintings, Van Gogh's Irises, is always surrounded by spectators.
Nearby is one of the 30 stacks of Claude Monet.
How nice to wander through the halls of the museum and look at the masterpieces.
"A Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros" William-Adolphe Bouguereau. "Fruit piece" Jan van Huysum.
The painting "View of the main canal" by Bernard Bellotto apparently introduced some visitors into romantic dreams :)
For lighting in the halls - skylights, which are equipped with blinds to cover from too bright sun.
There are many beautiful sculptures in the museum.
And a lot of wonderful and charismatic caretakers.
After spending almost the whole day in the Getty Center (there is a cafe and a restaurant where you can have lunch on the territory of the center), we, of course, did not have time to go around all the galleries.
Someday we will return again, as we usually promised ourselves. And while we're on our way.
The next day is a tour of Los Angeles.
Spring California vacation, April 2011.
Day 2. Getty Center in Los Angeles.
The magnificent Getty Center is located in the Brentwood area on a spur of the Santa Monica Mountains. The center opened in 1997 at a whopping $1.3 billion to open. The Getty Center not only houses a priceless collection of art, but also offers a 360 degree view of Los Angeles. More than 1.3 million visitors visit the museum every year. Getty Center is truly one of the largest and most important cultural centers worth visiting.
Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976) - American billionaire, who was once the richest man in America, was an avid collector of antiques and art. Getty began exhibiting his priceless collections at his villa near Malibu. After the death of the Getty, the foundation he founded began to operate with enormous funds and took care of the expansion of the museum. In 1983, for $ 25 million, a site was bought on top of the foothills near Los Angeles and construction began on the Getty Center. With a big hitch in time and with a large budget overrun ($1.3 billion instead of the estimated $350 million), the Getty Center was opened in 1997.
On a large site there are five pavilions: exhibition, northern, eastern, southern and western, which exhibit paintings, graphics, manuscripts, sculptures, arts and crafts. All works of art are arranged in chronological time order, starting with the northern pavilion and ending with the western (recent art).
north pavilion. Painting, art and sculpture up to 1600
Eastern pavilion. 17th century art (Baroque), Dutch, Flemish, French, Spanish painting. Italian arts and crafts 1600 to 1800
South Pavilion. Paintings from the 18th century, a large collection of arts and crafts, and elaborately furnished rooms.
Western pavilion. Sculpture and decorative art of Italy 1700 - 1900
AT exhibition pavilion temporary thematic exhibitions.
Photographs are exhibited in the galleries on the ground floor of each pavilion. The second floors of the pavilions are interconnected by glazed bridges and open terraces that offer a view of the surrounding hills and the central area of the museum. Sculptures are located on open terraces and in gardens located between the buildings of the center. The central garden with pool is designed to emphasize the play of light, color and reflection.
Natural light is one of the most important elements. Many walls in buildings are made of glass and allow the sun to illuminate the interiors. A system of computer-controlled blinds and filters adjusts the light in the room so that the paintings in the galleries are presented to visitors in natural light.
A visit to the Getty Center is an unforgettable experience thanks to its unparalleled collection of art and architecture. Entrance to the art museum and access to all exhibitions is absolutely free. In the lobby of the museum you can buy an audio guide in Russian. The Getty Villa in Malibu is another branch of the Getty Museum, exhibiting objects from ancient Greece and Rome, and admission is also free.
Being a collector myself, I am seriously interested in the fate of private collections, the history of their formation and development. In addition, I am very concerned about the problem of preservation and, in fact, the storage of works of art, so I pay great attention to world experience in this area. Once in Los Angeles, he considered it absolutely inexcusable not to visit the J. Paul Getty Museum Center (J. Paul Getty).
Billionaire oilman J. Paul Getty (1892-1976) was the world's largest collector of antique art. He began to collect his collection in the 1930s, and in 1954 he opened a museum for the public in his own home in Malibu on the outskirts of Los Angeles. The museum received visitors twice a week from 15.00 to 17.00. Three years later, a gallery was added to the house to house the sculpture.
As the collection grew, so did the public's interest in it. Since 1951, J. Paul Getty began to live permanently in Europe and in 1953 decided to create the Getty Trust to manage the museum, the purpose of which is to replenish and develop the collection, as well as to engage in educational programs in the field of art. By the end of the 1960s, the activities of the gallery, museum and library required new premises, and Getty decided to build a new building on the ranch, since the plot of land acquired in 1945 with the house was large enough. As a man passionate about ancient culture, J. Paul Getty decided to reproduce the Villa dei Papiri (Villa dei Papiri) - the house of an ancient papyrus collector, destroyed during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. and discovered during excavations in 1709. The construction of the Getty Villa lasted 3 years and cost the collector $17 million. Without leaving England, where he lived after moving from the United States, he personally controlled the progress of construction using photo reports. The opening of the museum took place on January 16, 1974.
Being an art philanthropist and undoubtedly a talented businessman, Getty decided during his lifetime to decide the fate of the museum. In his will, the museum inherited 4 million shares of Getty Oil, which at the time was worth $700 million. Also, the powers of the Getty Trust and the purpose of the bequeathed money were clearly described.
Today, the Getty Museum consists of 2 complexes: the Getty Villa and the Getty Center, built in 1997 by the famous American architect Richard Meier. The main mission of the museum is the popularization of art and the dissemination of artistic knowledge among the general public. There is no admission fee for visitors to the museum.
The activities of the museum include: preservation and enhancement of the collection of sculpture, graphics, painting from antiquity to contemporary art; the largest restoration institute, equipped with the most modern equipment; research institute in the field of art; a library of manuscripts and old illustrated books, manuscripts and archival documents (secondary sources on art history, architecture and archeology alone number more than a million books, periodicals and auction catalogs). Specialists of the Restoration Institute are involved in large-scale restoration projects around the world - the preservation of wall paintings in the tomb of Nefertiti, mosaics in the Cathedral of St. Vitus of the 14th century in Prague and many others. The publishing activity of the museum is also impressive, about 30 books, albums and monographs are published annually, including unique scientific publications on restoration.
Sources:
Inside the Getty. 2008. J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles.
