Getty Center 🇺🇸

The Getty Center is a cultural and administrative campus located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Perched 900 feet above sea level on a ridge in the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Interstate 405, the 24-acre hilltop facility sits on a larger 110-acre plot surrounded by protected open space. On clear days, the vantage point offers panorama views stretching across the Los Angeles skyline, the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountain ranges to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Designed by architect Richard Meier and built with concrete, steel, aluminum, and imported travertine, the campus opened in December 1997. Its structural layout is defined by two overlapping grids offset by an angle of 22.5 degrees, separating gallery spaces from administrative facilities, and includes specific engineering measures to safeguard against fires and earthquakes. Visitors reach the main complex by parking in a seven-story subterranean garage at the foot of the hill and riding an automated three-car, cable-pulled hovertrain tram up to the summit arrival plaza.

The main arrival building features a central rotunda containing information desks, orientation theaters, gift shops, and a grand staircase. The museum itself consists of five distinct two-story pavilions: North, South, East, West, and Exhibitions. Artworks in the permanent collection are arranged chronologically, progressing from ancient and medieval art in the North Pavilion to newer collections in the West Pavilion. Exhibited materials encompass pre-twentieth-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, decorative pieces, and sculptures, alongside a global photography collection covering the 1830s to the present. Displayed masterworks include Vincent van Gogh’s Irises, Paul Gauguin’s Arii Matamoe, Pontormo’s Portrait of a Halberdier, and a workshop copy of Hyacinthe Rigaud’s Portrait of Louis XIV.

In addition to the galleries, the property houses several specialized outdoor environments and institutional offices. The 134,000-square-foot Central Garden, designed by artist Robert Irwin, features a hillside stream, cascading waterfall, and a circular pool containing a floating azalea maze. Other terrain features include a cactus garden on the southern edge, an emergency helipad on the northern promontory, hillside oak plantings, and numerous fountains and outdoor sculpture terraces. The campus also hosts the Getty Research Institute—which includes an accessible public gallery—as well as dining options such as a full-service restaurant, cafeteria, and terrace cafe. The center announced plans to close for roughly eleven months of renovations in March 2027, targeting a reopening in spring 2028.