J. Paul Getty Museum

There is an abundance of museums, libraries and other cultural and artsy things to see in southern California and we are doing our best to visit the most important as we see it. (Of course I am not good for long spells of this so we intermix fun things too)

We all know the story about J. Paul Getty Sr. founding the Getty Oil Company and becoming very wealthy. His son had a troubled life and turned it around in 1980 and became a philanthropic benefactor.


In 1983 the J. Paul Getty Trust purchased about 750 acres in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. The following year architect Richard Meier was chosen to design the Getty Center. The Getty Center opened to the public in December 1997. There was over 300 restrictions put on the architect by the homeowners in the area; one was because of Meier's history of using reflective white building tiles. So he reserved that touch for one curved area that reflected inward.

The Getty is perched high atop a hill in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains which lends itself to breathless views in all directions. The buildings are both public and private. There are four pavilions of art work representing periods from before 1600 to after 1800, the Getty Museum, the Getty Convervation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Trust.

We took a tour of the gardens and landscaping featuring the Central Garden created by artist Robert Irwin, who has called it "a sculpture in the form of a garden aspiring to be art." It was gorgeous of course. At the bottom of the Central Garden, water cascades over a stepped stone wall into a reflecting pool with a maze of 400 azaleas. Surrounding the pool is a series of specialty gardens. The theme of the garden is change and represents three seasons using poppies, dahlia's and dogwood. By employing efficient irrigation techniques and introduing more drought-tolerant plants, the Getty has been able to cut water use by more than 30 percent.


Robert Irwin used his vision for the landscapes to draw your eyes down and into his masterpieces while Richard Meier used squares and circles with movement upward and out. They complimented each other masterfully, although they ended not on the best of terms. But they accomplished great symmetry and balance throughout the entire area.



Combining architectural and landscape elements, the Museum Courtyard features a 120-foot linear fountain bordered on one side by a row of graceful Mexican cypress trees.

We also toured all four pavilions, but to see all floors in all buildings and give them the time they deserve would take a week. There is no way to describe the beauty and artistry within these walls. We saw paintings by de Goya, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gough, Paul Gauguin and more. Some I liked more than others for different reasons. I know that I didn't see them with the eye of a true connoisseur but they did take my breath away.

This picture is "Lillies" by Van Gough which cannot be seen here as it should. But the colors were vivid and brilliant. I am not sure what makes this worth over $100 million but it is. I'm not sure what the difference between a painting and art is but I know what I like and this I liked.

The architect used a very linear style to constantly draw your eyes toward the ocean or other panoramic views he wanted you to see. This is just one of the many views using this style combined with curves which accenuated each other beautifully.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day we spent here and were greatly inspired by the beauty that surrounded us. We would loved to have been able to spend more time here but rest assured we enjoyed it to the full extent of our ability with the time we had.