GETTY MUSEUM

April 19, 2006

Since we spent so much time in Ojai we were a bit behind on our schedule, so we decided to wait until Friday to go to the Getty Museum, and we continued our drive on into Santa Monica via the Pacific Coast Highway.  We thought we had made a reservation at an Embassy Suites, but it turned out to be the Embassy Hotel instead.  The room was spacious and comfortable and had a nice little kitchen, but we still felt it was overpriced.

After taking our luggage in and stowing our bikes in the basement I went to the grocery store to pick up some food for dinner and we settled into our room for the night.

The next morning we headed off to the Getty Museum, planning to beat the crowds by arriving early.  Hah!  The parking lot was packed and we had to go down to the 6^th parking level to get a spot.  It is spring break here, so that might be part of the reason for the crowds.

The Getty Museum houses J. Paul Getty’s personal collection of artwork, period furniture and photographs. The museum complex was designed by Richard Meier, the same architect that designed the San Jose City Hall and is composed of five buildings for exhibits, an entrance hall, and a research building.  There are also some formal gardens.  Plenty of rest areas and places to have snacks and refreshments have been provided and despite the almost full capacity crowds the galleries and open areas did not feel crowded.  Both Don and I found the building design of unadorned white cubes rather uninspired.

The objective of the museum is to teach about art.  The displays are organized in such a way as to demonstrate a progression in technique and style.  In addition to the displays a hands on children’s art area is provided.  Here kids can learn about various techniques and actually try them out.  There is also a research center, which sponsors up and coming new artists.

The exhibits are quite impressive and extensive—far more than I was expecting—and very well presented.  I was really looking forward to seeing the collection of illuminated manuscripts, but of all the exhibits, this is the one that was closed for maintenance.  The collection includes ancient art, sculpture, pottery, Italian religious art, XV and XVI period furniture, and Impressionist paintings.  Various tours are given throughout the day—garden tour, architecture tour, museum highlights tour. Don took the architecture tour while I opted to spend more time with the Impressionists. 

We scooted out of the museum by 2pm so we could make our way across the LA area before the big rush hour crunch.  It seemed to take forever to move from one side of the big metropolis to the other, but as we listened to the traffic reports we were glad we started out when we did.  Our traffic woes were very mild, with bumper to bumper as we moved through the main city area of LA, and once we got to the other side traffic flowed fairly smoothly.  We pulled into Joshua Tree at about 6pm and checked into our hotel.