The top ten art museums in Los Angeles in my mind

The top ten art museums in Los Angeles in my mind

Loving art is a moving way of life.

except for the group of contemporary artists, probably no one would regard Los Angeles as an art mecca. Under the cover of famous historical and cultural cities in the east, such as New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, Los Angeles, as a rising star, looks bleak, even worse than San Francisco on the same west coast on some culture-related rankings. Even fewer people know that Los Angeles has the largest number of museums and galleries per capita in the world. However, if you look at the map, these museums are as scattered as pie-shaped Los Angeles, and they can't form a "cultural atmosphere" like tiny Manhattan.

admittedly, in terms of art collections, few museums in Los Angeles rank first in the United States in a particular area of collection. Although there are some collection gaps, and a lack of some household names, in terms of overall resources, I think it is not inferior to the above-mentioned old cities, and even has some unique features that others do not have. It is particularly worth emphasizing that several major museums in Los Angeles are open free of charge daily, mainly thanks to wealthy collectors.

after visiting the newly opened Marciano Art Foundation last week, I was finally able to list my top 10 museums (all in Los Angeles County), along with some personal introductions and important information for your reference. Whenever I visit the museum, including in the process of writing this article, I will, again and again, thank those generous collectors who hold the idea that it is better to have fun alone than with others and open their lifelong collections to the public. More importantly, they chose Los Angeles as a collection location with the dream and hope of making Los Angeles a cultural metropolis on par with New York.

The Getty    Collection Field:  European Art from Ancient Greece to the early 20th Century

whether it is free:  Getty Center is free; Getty Villa is free and requires an appointment

visit time:  Getty Center 6 hours Getty Villa 2 hours

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recommendation Index:  there are two sites. Getty Villa, located in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, was built in 1954 and took 20 years to complete. It is an archetypal Roman-style building based on an Italian villa submerged by volcanoes, including courtyards, herbal gardens, and an ancient Greek amphitheater. The billionaire J. Paul Getty lies here. The more famous Getty Center, founded in 1997, is located not far from Brentwood and is the most visited museum in the region (the two buildings together have the second largest number of visitors in the United States, after the New York Metropolitan MET). Thanks to the huge legacy of Mr. Getty, The Getty has always been the richest art institution in the world. Its subsidiary Getty Research Institute has funded the restoration and research of many precious works of art around the world. The heavyweight special exhibitions sponsored by the Institute, such as the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in 2016, are second to none at the curatorial level.

apart from the remote location, this is an impeccable large-scale first-class museum. The guide map and indoor guide are very good so that the audience can easily visit according to the art history from beginning to end. Not only the visit is free, but also the rental of a guide and recording equipment is free. Getty Villa has an exhibition hall that uses multimedia and installations to show the timeline of ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan civilizations, which is probably clearer than many textbooks on art or cultural history. The museum faces the sea, and you can walk on the beach after visiting. Not far away is the end of the famous Sunset Boulevard. Getty Center's outdoor garden is exquisite and chic, embellished with modernist sculptures, worth visiting, and suitable for rest. The whole building is built on the mountain (take a free train up the mountain), but also has a panoramic view of Los Angeles, the night view is even better.

Collection  Getty Villa covers a rich collection of ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art and culture, including some precious mosaic murals. Getty Center covers European art from the 14th century to the early 20th century, that is, almost as far as post-impressionism. Among them, the Italian, Dutch and French departments are the main body, while the British, German, and Spanish departments are few (mainly several famous artists and the works of the German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich are the only local ones). In addition, there are a large number of exhibition halls showing European home decoration and decorative art as well as famous photographic works.

favorites:  an ancient Greek gold laurel; a portrait of a woman on an ancient Roman mummy coffin. The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis of Jacques-Louis David (1818); Starry Night of Edvard Munch (1893).

The Huntington

Collection Field:  Western art from the Renaissance to the 20th century

is free:  the first Thursday of each month is free (but must be booked one month in advance)

visit time  6 hours

recommendation Index:  recommendation

located in San Marino, it was founded in 1919 and opened to the public in 1928 according to his will after the death of the collector Henry E. Huntington. The museum is probably unique in the United States and even in the world. It is a combination of art galleries (1), private mansion displays (2), libraries covering science (3) and humanities (4), ornamental gardens (5) and gardens (5), and popular botanical gardens (7) and academic research centers (8).

in the collection of ancient books, there is a complete parchment Gutenberg Bible (only two in the United States) and various celebrity manuscripts; the art collection is famous for its rich British and American departments; and gardens, there are famous Japanese gardens and the largest overseas Chinese Suzhou gardens. The graveyard of Mr. and Mrs. Huntington is here. There is a cloud in the Book of Rites, so the gentleman is learning, hiding, practicing, resting, and wandering. This complex probably satisfies all the beautiful imaginations of the founder, and also fits the taste of people like me who love art, humanities, science, and nature.

Collection:  generally covers the history of European art from the 14th to the early 20th century, focusing on Italian, Dutch, French, and British works, especially British ones showing relatively complete and rich genealogies. This is the only place to appreciate British art, one of the best in the United States (New York has the Frick Collection). The pity is that there are no European modernist works since the middle of the 19th century. The Museum of American Art, which completed another expansion in 2016, covers 400 years of American art history from the 17th century to the present, making it the most comprehensive American collection on the West Coast. The museum has opened an exhibition hall for the Greene brothers, the representative of the American art and craft movement, and even the treasures of the local most famous Gamble House town pavilion are temporarily on display, which is especially worth seeing. It is said that the first financier of the American Museum of Art, Ms. Virginia Steele Scott, is a resident of Pasadena. As a sponsor of the following Pasadena Art Museum, she wanted to donate her art collection to the latter, but PAM focused on contemporary art at that time. In less than 40 years, it has developed into the top card of American art on the West Coast, and I have to lament once again the generosity of collectors.

favorite:  the whole USA Pavilion! Blue Boy of Thomas Gainsborough (1770); View on the Stour near Dedham of John Constable (1822); Chimborazo of Frederic Edwin Church (1864); The Long Leg of Edward Hopper (1930).

Los Angeles County Museum of Art    Collection:  Art of major civilizations on all continents whether it's free:  Free on the second Tuesday of each month time to visit:  4 hours

recommendation Index:  the famous Miracle Mile located in Los Angeles, founded in 1961. The largest art museum in the western United States, covering the ancient and modern art collections of major civilizations on all continents, is the only one in the region to view Islamic art. LACMA is to Los Angeles what MET is to New York, but MET is world-class, and the LACMA collection is not as good as MET 1/10. It is suitable for those audiences who want to have a rough and entry-level understanding of world art history. Its attraction to me mainly lies in one or two heavyweight special exhibitions every year, such as the retrospective of the famous architect Frank Gehry held in 2015.

as an encyclopedic museum, its content is not very rich and exquisite, it looks like a painting that lacks a lot of details but still has a rough outline. The whole museum is made up of several independent buildings, which deepens this sense of piecemeal and random flowers. Worst of all, the LACMA guide is limited to showing what is displayed in several buildings and on each floor and does not provide specific guidelines for each exhibition area to suggest a suitable tour route for visitors, and the order of the collection is relatively chaotic, especially in the European art exhibition area. Anyway, I have not figured out the best way to view these works in chronological order from beginning to end. When the new pavilion is completed in a few years, the exhibition should be greatly improved.

Collection:  focus on European and North American art. But as mentioned earlier, his family has everything, but nothing is so interesting. The works of many important painters are missing, for example, there is not even a Van Gogh, and the works of many important painters are not representative. Generally speaking, the number of "treasures of the town hall" is too small. It is commendable that there are abundant Dutch classical works and German modern works, the furniture decoration collection of American art and craft movement is pleasing to the eye, and the works of Mexican modernist painter Diego Rivera. There are several paintings by the Belgian surrealist painter Ren é Magritte, which are only seen in the region (and both are masterpieces). The individually built Japan Pavilion is famous (with works by Fujita Seiji). It has a strong sense of design but consumes a lot of space, so its richer collection often needs to be displayed in rotation. A small number of Chinese and Korean collections are packed into Hammer Building, and there is the finale of Landscape with Boats (1996), which was created by Roy Lichtenstein in his later years under the influence of Degas and Chinese landscape painting. Its Broad Contemporary Art Museum is donated by Mr. and Mrs. Broad and often holds some special exhibitions of contemporary art.

favorite:  German Expressionist Exhibition Hall! Georges de La Tour's Magdalene with the Smoking Flame (1638-1640); Henri Matisse's later years Gerbe (1953); David Hockney's largest-scale work Mulholland Drive: The Road to the Studio (1980).

Norton Simon Museum

Collection Field:  Western Art from the Renaissance to the 20th Century; Asian Art

whether it's free:  it's free after 5 pm on the first Friday of every month. Students take time to visit

for free  2 hours

recommendation Index:  excellent artists

located in Pasadena, the predecessor is Pasadena Art Museum, which was founded in 1954 and is famous for its commitment to modern and contemporary art. It was later accepted and renamed by tycoon Norton Simon in 1974 to include its collection of European and Asian art because of its poor financial situation. The current building is transformed by Frank Gehry.

I like this small and medium-sized museum very much. Its content basically covers the history of Western art, and each one is carefully selected by Mr. Simon, whose taste is in line with my taste; its size is suitable for a leisurely browse that does not put any pressure on the legs, and multiple exhibition halls can lead to a sculpture garden surrounded by the museum building, making the tour more relaxed and vivid. Coupled with the fact that the audience is usually small, the wonderful feeling of gazing at a beloved masterpiece for a long time in an empty gallery is difficult for other museums where people come and go.

Collection:  roughly covers the history of European art from the 14th to the 20th century, of which Raphael's Madonna and Child with Book (1502-03) is the only original Raphael on the West Coast. Complementary to its nearest neighbor The Huntington is that although it lacks British and traditional American works, its modernist collection since Culber is very rich, especially the Impressionist collection. In addition, its German collection is rich, from Lucas Cranach the Elder to expressionist celebrities, American postwar art is also a bright spot (but limited to space, only a few of these collections are on display for a long time, mostly in the form of special exhibitions). It also has a whole layer of Buddhist statues from South and Southeast Asia.

favorites:  Rembrandt van Rijn's Portrait of a Boy (1655-60); É Edouard Vuillard's First Fruits (1899); Pablo Picasso's Woman with a Book (1932).

Hammer Museum    Collection Field:  Contemporary Art; A small number of fine works of Western art from the 17th to the 19th century

whether it is free:  Free

visit time:  2 hours

recommendation Index:  exhibition

Mr. Armand Hammer and LACMA failed to reach a consensus on the donation and display of their collection and founded a museum named after him in 1990. He died soon after, and UCLA took over the management and incorporated some of the school's original museum resources into the museum. Due to the rich collection and limited space, his collections in various fields are displayed in a certain exhibition hall in the way of a certain theme, so they can constantly change their tastes during the visit. For example, seeing Andy Warhol's works in a photography exhibition is a pleasant surprise than being used to his pop art.

The collection begins with a small but sophisticated Armand Hammer collection, including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Sargent, which was exhibited in a gallery in China in 1982. A vertical painting by É Edouard Vuillard is the only one seen in this area. Honor é Daumier has a wealth of works. Recently donated to the contemporary era-oriented, special exhibitions also focus on contemporary art. The museum is famous for holding special exhibitions with unique or in-depth themes. The Montenegro College theme exhibition held in 2016 has collected a large number of related exhibits from many well-known museums or private collections around the world. You can see its charm. In addition, it also includes the UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, which is famous for its paper works and photography, and the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, located on the campus of UCLA. The sculpture park has dozens of modern and contemporary sculptures, mostly by famous artists.

Museum of Contemporary Art    Collection:  Contemporary Art

whether it's free:  every Thursday after 5 p.m.

it takes time to visit  2 hours

recommendation Index:  visit


three sites. The two main sites are located in downtown Los Angeles, with the main library facing The Broad and the branch library in Little Tokyo. As mentioned earlier, Norton Simon revamped the only contemporary art museum in the region, which indirectly led to the establishment of MOCA in 1979, and one of its main promoters was Norton's sister Marcia Simon Weisman, who donated part of her collection.

Collection:  its collection is first donated by several collectors. The genealogy of its contemporary art collection is comprehensive and diverse, but the total amount is not very rich. As the space in the museum building is limited and there is not much collection on display, some of the exhibits are often changed. The largest work I have ever seen in the museum is from this museum: Thomas Hirschhorn's large installation work Chromatic Fire (2005). A large drip painting by Jackson Pollock is the only one seen in the area; Mark Rothko's work fills an exhibition hall. The largest branch of Geffen, transformed by Frank Gehry, usually hosts exhibitions focusing on newly alive artists and houses large sculptures or installations. MOCA often holds some high-quality contemporary art special exhibitions, and the large-scale individual special exhibition Doug Aitken: Electric Earth in 2016 is very exciting.

The Broad    Collection:  Contemporary Art

whether it's free or not:  Free (booking is required, long queues are also available)

time to visit:  2 hours

recommendation Index:  exhibition


located in downtown Los Angeles, the spectacular museum was created by the Eli and Edythe Broad couple in 2015, and the spectacular building is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro to display nearly two thousand contemporary works of art collected by the Broad couple. One feature is that the warehouse of its collection can be viewed directly from a window on the second floor. There has been a steady stream of spectators here since its opening. There was a long line at the door every time, and the limelight completely overshadowed MOCA across the street. The number of visitors in the first year of the restaurant exceeded 800000, on a par with The Huntington.

Collection:  its contemporary art collection may not be comprehensive, but it is very rich and eye-catching. For example, the works of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, two representative figures of pop art, respectively fill an exhibition hall, and his Joseph Beuys collection is one of the largest in the United States. It is not limited to contemporary art in Europe and the United States, but also includes works by artists from other regions, such as the installation of Infinity Mirrored Room-The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away by Kusama (2013), and the huge works by Takashi Murakami, In the Land of the Dead, Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow (2014). Although I have been there many times, I don't have much feeling about its home. How to say, the Broad couple seems to be famous for what they buy. They are a museum displaying private collections, but they can't tell the collectors' taste through their collections, leaving only dazzling.

favorite:  Ragnar Kjartansson's The Visitors (2012) shows the whole process of each member of a band playing and singing the same song in a different room of a house on nine screens.

Marciano Art Foundation

Collection area:  Contemporary Art

whether it is free:  Free (must make an appointment)

Tour time:  2 hours

recommendation Index:  recommendation Index

located in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, next to Koreatown, it was founded by the Maurice and Paul Marciano brothers in 2017. Its building was originally a Scottish Freemason house designed and built by Millard Sheets, a representative artist of the California School of painting. The renovation plan retains the three murals and outdoor figure sculptures he designed for the clubhouse, and sorts out the items abandoned by his former employer in the clubhouse, setting up a special exhibition hall to show the history and secrets of the freemason.

the Marciano brothers began to invest in art collections in the 1980s, first impressionism, then postwar contemporary art, and then sold their entire collection when the art market collapsed in 1991. Until 2009, when his brother Maurice saw a retrospective of Takashi Murakami in MOCA, he rekindled his interest in collecting. This time, they focused on contemporary art in the true literal sense, most of which was created by artists since the beginning of the new century. I like this museum very much, the design of the exhibition hall is spacious and suitable, the exhibition is very comfortable, and many new generation artists have never come into contact with before, and the freshness is coming. To some extent, it fills a gap in museums in the region (the above two do not focus on 21st-century art).

Collection Field:  Modern and Contemporary Art

whether it is free:  Free (must make an appointment)

visit time:  1-2 hours (depending on the pace of the narrator)

recommendation Index:  exhibition

after considering various ways to display her art collection, it is different from her ex-wife Marcia Simon's choice to donate to the museum. Mr. Frederick R. Weisman finally decided to buy a villa for his living in the famous Holmby Hills in Los Angeles and decorate the whole villa with his rich art collection. He hopes that the audience can share the experience of living with art and feel the works of art in the daily home environment. This is probably unique in the United States and even in the world, a villa that completely retains the furnishings of the collector himself, and every corner is full of works of art.

as he wishes, the audience is almost experiencing such an artistic atmosphere from the perspective of the host. This is completely different from the feeling of visiting the old, brilliant, and orderly mansions of emperors or tycoons. Contact with these modern and contemporary works of art in a zero-distance home environment brings not only a sense of closeness but also a re-examination of some artists and their works. When I went back last time, I came across his widow and curator, Ms. Billie Milam Weisman, in the courtyard. After a few pleasantries, he was a very elegant old man. When I came out from the visit, it seemed like a lifetime ago when I saw a series of sightseeing buses full of tourists visiting this famous star mansion.

The collectioncontains nearly 500 works from 1900 to the present. Modernists include C é Cezanne, Picasso, and Kandinsky, surrealism includes Max Ernst, Joan Mir ó, and Ren é Magritte, and contemporary art includes Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, de Kooning, Sam Francis, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and so on. Several surrealist sculptures by Duane Hanson and paintings by Francis Bacon seem to be the only ones in the region. Picasso's Mother and Child (1901) is his masterpiece of the blue period. In addition, the collection of the villa is only part of the foundation's entire collection, and the rest is often lent to other museums, especially the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in the local Pepperdine University, which hosts long-term exhibitions on the theme of the foundation's collection.

favorite:  it's all!

Skirball Cultural Center    Collection area:  uncertain

whether it's free:  every Thursday

visit time:  3 hours

recommendation Index:  visit


Brentwood in Los Angeles, very close to Getty Center, was founded by Skirball and his wife in 1996. This is not an art museum, but an institution dedicated to the display of Jewish culture and history. It's a core exhibition, Visions, and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, in addition to telling the history of Jews(including the history of Chinese Jews), also contains many works of art from ancient times to the present, such as portraits of Jewish celebrities created by Andy Warhol and the finale of works by Jewish artist Roy Lichtenstein. In addition, special exhibitions of Jewish artists are often held here, such as the 2016 Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in L.A. It's pretty good. In particular, there is a huge Noah's ark, which is the product of the cooperation of many artists and designers, who use a variety of common materials to create nearly 300 animal images, including many dolls and ship models. This is an interactive space that combines art and technology, and it will be interesting even as an adult. All in all, in my opinion, it is more recommended than many other small art museums that have not been selected.

to sum up, in terms of art collection resources, the British and American departments in Los Angeles are quite excellent (mainly in Huntington, which is supplemented by LACMA); the French Impressionists are also very good (mainly in Norton Simon and Getty, LACMA and Hammer as supplements); while the German ones are almost able to gather together, the classical part is in Getty and Norton Simon, the modern part is especially expressionist in Norton Simon and LACMA, and the contemporary part is in Broad. Asian art has LACMA and Norton Simon; contemporary art is particularly active every museum will display contemporary art, covering the entire picture of contemporary art since the end of World War II. As for the defects, I mentioned from the very beginning that although there are many masterpieces by Rembrandt and Van Gogh in the addition section, there are still too few heavyweight works of classical art. What bothers me most is that there is not a single painting in Los Angeles.

for tourists, if there is plenty of time, The Getty is the first choice; if time is tight, The Broad is the first choice. After all, these two are without a doubt the most popular art museums in Los Angeles. From the point of view of art lovers, if I want to make suggestions to you who are also art lovers, then, if there is plenty of time, please choose The Huntington; If time is tight, please choose Norton Simon Museum. These two rooms are also the most visited by me, not because I live nearby and have a preference for them, but because the former is better than its comprehensiveness and uniqueness, while the latter is better than its span and delicacy. For heavy art lovers, both Art Foundation is quite special and fresh but remember to make a reservation in advance when booking a hotel. Loving art is a moving way of life.

Collection Field:  Modern and Contemporary Art

whether it is free:  Free (must make an appointment)

visit time:  1-2 hours (depending on the pace of the narrator)

after considering various ways to display her art collection, it is different from her ex-wife Marcia Simon's choice to donate to the museum. Mr. Frederick R. Weisman finally decided to buy a villa for his living in the famous Holmby Hills in Los Angeles and decorate the whole villa with his rich art collection. He hopes that the audience can share the experience of living with art and feel the works of art in the daily home environment. This is probably unique in the United States and even in the world, a villa that completely retains the furnishings of the collector himself, and every corner is full of works of art.

as he wishes, the audience is almost experiencing such an artistic atmosphere from the perspective of the host. This is completely different from the feeling of visiting the old, brilliant, and orderly mansions of emperors or tycoons. Contact with these modern and contemporary works of art in a zero-distance home environment brings not only a sense of closeness but also a re-examination of some artists and their works. When I went back last time, I came across his widow and curator, Ms. Billie Milam Weisman, in the courtyard. After a few pleasantries, he was a very elegant old man. When I came out from the visit, it seemed like a lifetime ago when I saw a series of sightseeing buses full of tourists visiting this famous star mansion.

The collectioncontains nearly 500 works from 1900 to the present. Modernists include C é Cezanne, Picasso, and Kandinsky, surrealism includes Max Ernst, Joan Mir ó, and Ren é Magritte, and contemporary art includes Giacometti, Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, de Kooning, Sam Francis, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney and so on. Several surrealist sculptures by Duane Hanson and paintings by Francis Bacon seem to be the only ones in the region. Picasso's Mother and Child (1901) is his masterpiece of the blue period. In addition, the collection of the villa is only part of the foundation's entire collection, and the rest is often lent to other museums, especially the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art in the local Pepperdine University, which hosts long-term exhibitions on the theme of the foundation's collection.

favorite:  it's all!

whether it's free:  every Thursday

visit time:  3 hours

recommendation Index:  visit


Brentwood in Los Angeles, very close to Getty Center, was founded by Skirball and his wife in 1996. This is not an art museum, but an institution dedicated to the display of Jewish culture and history. It's a core exhibition, Visions, and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, in addition to telling the history of Jews(including the history of Chinese Jews), also contains many works of art from ancient times to the present, such as portraits of Jewish celebrities created by Andy Warhol and the finale of works by Jewish artist Roy Lichtenstein. In addition, special exhibitions of Jewish artists are often held here, such as the 2016 Pop for the People: Roy Lichtenstein in L.A. It's pretty good. In particular, there is a huge Noah's ark, which is the product of the cooperation of many artists and designers, who use a variety of common materials to create nearly 300 animal images, including many dolls and ship models. This is an interactive space that combines art and technology, and it will be interesting even as an adult. All in all, in my opinion, it is more recommended than many other small art museums that have not been selected.

to sum up, in terms of art collection resources, the British and American departments in Los Angeles are quite excellent (mainly in Huntington, which is supplemented by LACMA); the French Impressionists are also very good (mainly in Norton Simon and Getty, LACMA and Hammer as supplements); while the German ones are almost able to gather together, the classical part is in Getty and Norton Simon, the modern part is especially expressionist in Norton Simon and LACMA, and the contemporary part is in Broad. Asian art has LACMA and Norton Simon; contemporary art is particularly active every museum will display contemporary art, covering the entire picture of contemporary art since the end of World War II. As for the defects, I mentioned from the very beginning that although there are many masterpieces by Rembrandt and Van Gogh in the addition section, there are still too few heavyweight works of classical art. What bothers me most is that there is not a single painting in Los Angeles.

for tourists, if there is plenty of time, The Getty is the first choice; if time is tight, The Broad is the first choice. After all, these two are without a doubt the most popular art museums in Los Angeles. From the point of view of art lovers, if I want to make suggestions to you who are also art lovers, then, if there is plenty of time, please choose The Huntington; If time is tight, please choose Norton Simon Museum. These two rooms are also the most visited by me, not because I live nearby and have a preference for them, but because the former is better than its comprehensiveness and uniqueness, while the latter is better than its span and delicacy. For heavy art lovers, both Art Foundation is quite special and fresh but remember to make a reservation in advance when booking a hotel. Loving art is a moving way of life.