2 July

We let Lynnely sleep in and had a late breakfast. It was a beautiful day. Temperature around 26C, a slight breeze and nice blue skies.

Our objective for the day was the Getty Center, which is more of an art gallery than a museum, but does hold may historical pieces of art. JP Getty made his money from oil and having his art on display and free entry to the museum was his way of giving something back to the people. Mind you, there was a significant charge of $15 for the car park.

In 1983 the J Paul Getty Trust purchased 700 acres in the southern foot hills of the Santa Monica Mountains. In 1984 Richard Meier became the architect for the Getty Center project with plans for a 6 building campus to provide a unique cultural resource and and vital architectural landmark for the city of Los Angeles. The main buildings occupy less than one quarter of the campus's 24 acres. The remaining land has been landscaped to create courtyards, gardens and terraces as well as preserving their natural stage. No fountains were operating because of the drought and they use recycled water for the gardens.

We parked in the massive underground car park (Level 5 of seven) and caught the cable car train up to the museum. It's a train that runs on rails and is hauled up the hill by one inch thick cables. There are about four cars to a train.

When you exited the train, you are at the top of a large hill that overlooks a huge section of Southern California. The whole museum complex is built of white stone and in the bright sunlight was a little hard on the eyes, initially. There are four major buildings, each of two or three floors, housing permanent art displays. These are the North, East, South and West buildings. There's a fifth building that handles special exhibitions but unfortunately that was closed temporarily. The whole complex is in an area of seven hundred acres. Around the museum are beautiful gardens and water features and the views of the cities are spectacular.

The artwork includes a wide range of paintings covering most eras, sculptures, decorative china, exquisite furniture and clocks, manuscripts, drawings and photographs. We were allowed to take photographs in most locations. We hope that we have enough photos to provide a small view as to what was there.

It was around 5PM when we left and dived into the rush hour traffic again. Something noticeable about the cars here was the fact that more than 80% of the cars are foreign designed, mainly Japanese but also European and Korean. There's still more than 50% of the pickups that are US designed but there's probably less than 25% of the SUVs that are US designed. That's quite a change from seven years ago. It may also be a Californian thing.

The cable car train that takes you up to the museum

The freeway as it disappears into the distance.  In the evening it was full in both directions.  

Walking from the cable car to the entry of the museum 

An ornate French cabinet made around 1580 

A pair of jars used for holding drugs, dating from the 1500's. 

An exquisite piece of carved ivory that was over two feet tall 

An Italian chest from 1550-1600.  Most like it held linen. 

An altar panel from Italy dated 1492

The story of Joseph in the Old Testament.  An Italian panel from around 1485  

This Spanish life sized statue of St Gines de La Jara dates from 1692 

This Dutch painting of Two Water Mills and an Open Sluice is from 1653  

This bust is slightly larger than life size and delicately carved out of marble.  It's Dutch from 1671. 

This was the sketching area where artists could try their had at drawing a number of different pieces 

A couple of fantastic French tables.  The inlay and marquetry was unbelievable 

A huge tapestry with a couple of very ornate clocks. 

The top of the cabinet was head heigh, so you can see its size. 

A lockable cabinet that will blow your mind 

An extremely ornate French musical clock from about 1712. 

Just what every chemist needs.  A gold plated microscope in its matching leather case 

Wouldn't you like to see this writing desk in your study? 

This large sofa for three or more was massive. 

A French clock and corner cabinet dated around 1750 

This was a gold panel on a cabinet 

A large, gold inlaid writing bureau 

A couple of fantastic silver items 

A chaise longue 

Medusa created by an Italian artist in 1911  

This is a famous painting.  It looks much better as a photo than it did on the wall. 

This father and son were discussing and sketching the portrait on the wall. 

There were a number of extremely nice glass items int he museum. 

A Dutch painting of the Piebald Horse, dating from around 1650  

A French lidded bowl from 1735

This four posted bed was absolutely massive 

A panelled cabinet with clock

A gold and silver bowl

Minerva, almost life sized, in marble.  1775 by an English artist 

A head with horns by Paul Gauguin, about 1895 

Looking down into the museum complex.  It shows three of the pavilion buildings  

The museum is way above the surrounding city.
The trees are suffering from the lack of water.

The downtown city buildings are hiding in the haze.

Houses are perched in the dry hills  

The gardens of the museum are  very pleasant

The water feature is in the form of a maze.