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HOW TO ENJOY
THE NEW GETTY
The opening of the Getty Center has been called the biggest cultural
event of the late 20th century. Santa Monica’s newest neighbor,
this complex of six travertine buildings on a hilltop overlooking
Los Angeles includes not just a five-pavilion art museum, but
facilities housing conservation, research, history, education,
and information institutes. The grounds include large formal gardens
and some 600 acres of land in a more-or-less natural state. Buildings
and setting are worthy of the collections.
"The main purpose of the new museum," says Getty Museum
director John Walsh, "is to put the works of art in the most
flattering setting and to give visitors the best possible experience.
We want to seduce visitors. We want to provide for their comfort."
Walsh also believes in making art easy to learn about, and enjoy.
The museum succeeds on all counts.
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Photos by S. Frances/Esto |
When you
go:
1. Consider a trip to the Getty a day’s outing. By
the time you get there, spend a reasonable amount of time enjoying
it (four hours minimum, not counting lunch), and return to wherever
you started, it will be dinnertime.
2. "Let your curiosity be your guide," Walsh
suggests. He urges you to approach this collection of paintings,
sculpture, and decorative objects at your own pace. Move through
the galleries in any order you want. Learn as much as you want
about individual works and artists—or just let it all wash
over you. The Getty is designed to make either approach worthwhile
and easy.
Walsh is right—don’t come armed with a methodical plan
of attack. Don’t start with admirable, if self-defeating,
resolve to march by everything.
3. Rent the audio tour ($2). Unlike most audio tours, this
one moves at your speed and goes where you want. Galleries and
nearly all works are numbered. For a brief talk about a particular
gallery or work, use the audio tour device’s keypad to punch
in the number. The audio tour is like having a personal, down-to-earth
version of Kenneth Clark at your elbow.
4. Try the art information rooms. These info centers offer
easily run, interactive computers (operated by touching the screen)
that can go on and on about schools of art, specific artists,
and individual works on display. For those more comfortable with
quaint technology, there are books. And there even are live persons
who will talk with you about the art.
5. Notice the architecture that houses all this art. And
look out of every window and from every balcony. Each has a view
that would have Corot reaching for his palette.
6. When you pass by a restroom, seize the moment. Tales
of lines at overtaxed facilities have made the papers, but there
seemed no such problem on the well-attended day we visited.
Getting there:
By car: The Getty is approximately nine miles from Santa
Monica and has its own exit from the San Diego Freeway; you’ll
see the museum complex atop a hill overlooking the freeway. Admission
to the museum is free, but parking costs $5. To park, you must
make an appointment—and all the 1,200 spaces usually are
booked weeks in advance. For a parking reservation, call (310)
440-7300. Remember: If you’re going to drive, you must
call.
By public transit: Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus No.
14 will leave you off at the Getty, as will MTA bus line No. 561.
There is no need to call ahead if you arrive by bus, take a taxi,
or walk.
The tram: The bus stop and parking garage are at the bottom
of a hill. The Getty is at the top. You reach the complex on a
brief tram ride; the high-tech tram sometimes is augmented by
buses. This shuttle is efficiently handled. On the day we visited,
it took only 15 minutes from leaving the car to arriving at the
museum, despite a daunting line of patrons waiting to ascend ahead
of us.
Hours: Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and
Wednesday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 9
p.m. Closed Mondays and major holidays.
For more information, and a pre-tour, visit The
Getty on the Web.
Getty Museum Guiding Principle Number One: Get the greatest
and rarest objects.
—from a 1984 report to the Getty trustees.
When you’re focused, know what you like, and come armed
with several billion dollars, you can turn Guiding Principle
Number One into reality. That’s what they’ve done
atop a hill beside the San Diego Freeway.
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This article was first published in July 1998. Some facts
may have aged gracelessly. Please call ahead to verify information.
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