The Getty Center is located in Los Angeles, California. Situated in the north of the city it sits in the Santa Monica mountains offering views across the city’s landscape and on a clear day offers views of the Pacific Ocean to the west as well as views of the San Gabriel and San Bernadino mountains to the east.
The building is the home of the J.Paul Getty Museum. The museum was established by J.Paul Getty, an American industrialist who was reported to be the world’s richest private citizen. Getty was an avid collector of antiques and art and his collection formed the basis of the museum today. Following his death in 1976 Getty left his collection and most of his wealth to the J.Paul Getty Museum Trust which operates the museum today.
The Museum focuses on pre 20th century paintings as well as 19th and 20th century photographs. Having originally been located at Getty’s home in Pacific Palisades the collection expanded rapidly and despite the entire property being given over to the museum following Getty’s death in 1976 the collection outgrew this location and in 1983 a move to the current site in the Santa Monica mountains was announced. After several delays construction commenced in 1989 and the center finally opened in 1997.
Designed by the renowned architect Richard Meier the Center is known as much for its architectural triumph as it is its contents. The campus has six buildings and consist of three main parts, the Getty Museum, the Getty research Center and the Central Garden with the latter being created by artist Robert Irwin who has been quoted as saying the Central Garden is “a sculpture in the form of a garden, which aims to be art”, in effect making it both a part of the Getty Center as well as a piece in the museum.
The Getty Museum hosts famous works such as Gaugin’s Arii Matome, van Goughs Irises and old master portrait of a Halberdier by Pontormo, purchased in 1989 for $35.2m this piece more than tripled the previous auction price for an old master painting.
The Getty Research Institute is dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts and is also open to the public. Its research library holds over 900,000 publications and books and over 2,000,000 photographs of art and architecture. The Getty Research institute also include regular exhibitions and a graduate scholars program.
Visitors to the Getty Center can travel by car with the site having parking facilities at the base of the mountain, access to the Center is then made by tram between the parking facility and the main arrival plaza.
The Getty Center attracts an estimated 1.3m visitors per year making it one of the most visited museums in the United States.
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