7 Must-See Museums in Los Angeles

Iwan Baan, Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of The Broad and DIller Scofidio + Renfro

The Broad

The Broad is a contemporary art museum founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad in 2015. Situated in Downtown LA, the museum is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, and was dubbed ‘the veil and the vault’ for its merging of the museum’s two key programmes: a public exhibition space and the storage that supports The Broad Art Foundation’s extensive lending activities. The museum is home to the 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide.

The Broad

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Hammer Museum

The Hammer Museum located in Westwood, LA, is dedicated to promoting art that confronts us with powerful insights. The Hammer is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and includes the UCLA collections of the Wight Art Gallery and the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts. Alongside its collection and exhibitions, it regularly hosts lectures, symposia, film series, reading and musical performances. The museum was founded by Dr. Armand Hammer, former Chairman of Occidental Petroleum Corporation. The Hammer’s renowned contemporary collection holds over 2,000 artworks.

The Hammer Museum

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J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center

The J. Paul Getty Museum , part of the multi-faceted Getty Trust, opened in 1997. It has locations at the Getty Center , a renowned Richard Meier structure high in the hills overlooking Los Angeles, and at the Getty Villa in Malibu . The extraordinarily rich collection spans European and American works from the medieval era to today, including paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts and sculpture. Highlights include paintings by Rembrandt, Monet and van Gogh and, showcased in temporary rotating displays, holdings of 19th- and 20th-century photographs.

The J. Paul Getty Museum at Getty Center

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Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Founded in 1979, MOCA’s mission is to be the defining museum of contemporary art, and the institution has achieved astonishing growth throughout those decades. Each of its three Los Angeles locations are of architectural renown; and its world-class permanent collection of more than 6,500 international works is among the finest in the United States. Of special interest are its groundbreaking monographic, touring and thematic exhibitions that set the standard for contemporary art for many around the world.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

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Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

The Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens was founded in 1919 by businessman Henry E. Huntington as a non-profit institution. During his lifetime he collected hundreds of artworks, rare books and plant specimens from around the world. The Huntington ’s galleries hold one of North America’s most comprehensive collections of 18th and 19th century British and French art, including Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy and Thomas Lawrence’s Pinkie, as well as an important American art collection. Highlights from the library include the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, and a world-class collection of early editions of Shakespeare’s works.

Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

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Norton Simon Museum

The Norton Simon Museum comprises a vast collection of European painting and sculpture alongside extensive holdings of Asian art. The museum was previously known as the Pasadena Art Museum before it was acquired in the 1970s by entrepreneur Norton Simon, who was looking for a home for his collection of over 4,000 objects and works of art. In the 1990s the museum’s interiors were redesigned by Frank Gehry while its gardens were landscaped by Nancy Goslee Power. Museum highlights include a selection of Japanese woodblock prints from the collection of Frank Lloyd Wright and tranquil sculpture gardens featuring work by Henry Moore and sculpture from the Indian subcontinent.

The Norton Simon Museum

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J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa

The J. Paul Getty Museum, part of the multi-faceted Getty Trust, opened in 1997. It has locations at the Getty Center, a renowned Richard Meier structure high in the hills overlooking Los Angeles and at the Getty Villa in Malibu . Treasures from the museum ’s 44,000-strong collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art and antiquities are on display at the Getty Villa, a reconstruction of the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum commissioned by J Paul Getty in the 1970s.

J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa

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