In addition to visiting the Getty Center we had the opportunity to visit the Getty Villa just up the road from Santa Monica in the Pacific Palisades. Again the architecture, art, and view were amazing.
In 1954, oil tycoon J. Paul Getty opened a gallery adjacent to his home in Pacific Palisades. Quickly running out of room, he built a second museum, the Getty Villa, on the property down the hill from the original gallery.The villa design was inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum and incorporated additional details from several other ancient sites. It opened in 1974, but was never visited by Getty, who died in 1976. Following his death, the museum inherited $661 million and began planning a much larger campus, the Getty Center, in nearby Brentwood.
The Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The collection has 44,000 Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities dating from 6,500 BC to 400 AD, including the Lansdowne Heracles and the Victorious Youth [INFO]. [SOURCE]
One of the many features I found interesting was the eyes on many of the busts in the Villa and on the grounds. There isn’t much you can say about either museum that describes what is there. The pictures are fine and offer a sample but you really need to visit. Both places are amazing.
