GETTY MUSEUM, Los Angeles: An Outdoor View

Recently, on a stormy fall day, we decided to take our visiting relatives to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, figuring that on a rainy day, it would be the perfect inside activity.  But when we got there, after parking in the underground garage and then riding the monorail to the top of the hill, we discovered that the rain had stopped, leaving everything sparkling and filling the sky with dramatic after-the-storm clouds, so we decided to explore the gardens and outdoor parts of the museum before going inside.

The architecture and the gardens of the Getty are worth a visit just in themselves.The buildings, designed by architect Richard Meier, are of travertine from Bagni di Tivoli, Italy and glow with reflected light. Each wall has a subtle texture, and if you look carefully, you can see the fossils of leaves, feathers and branches embedded in the stone.

After stopping for a cup of coffee from an outdoor stand, and admiring the colorful fall leaves overhead, we went to an overlook to enjoy the vista.  The air was so clear we could see all the way to the Palos Verdes peninsula to the south and far out in the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Then we wound our way along the cascading “creek” to the lower garden, where the water ends up in a pond that is also a visual maze. The gardens around the maze are largely filled with drought tolerant plants, perfect for the southern California climate.

Inside the museum we only had time to see a few exhibits.  We chose to view the 19th and 20th century European paintings, which included various Impressionist paintings and other familiar works.





Our final stop was the exhibit of Ray K. Metzker photographs with their wonderful contrasts and patterns.  This exhibit closes February 24th, 2013. On our way out. Art took his own Metzker--style photo of a random figure silhouetted against the wet marble pavement of the central courtyard of the museum.  It was a fitting end to an inspiring afternoon at the Getty.

For information about visiting the Getty go to http://www.getty.edu/visit/index.html .