Italy is full of extraordinary, breathtaking round-the-corner experiences. You round a corner in Rome and find the Pantheon. In Pisa it could be the Torre Pendente di Pisa, better known as the Leaning Tower. When you arrive at the...
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After a cool early summer, toasty picnic weather has finally arrived in L.A. The Getty is a great place for outdoor eats—this weekend, the Center is open Saturday and Sunday, and the Villa is open all three days, including...
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Visitors are captivated by The Spectacular Art of Jean-Léon Gérôme. I met a couple from Miami who were so intrigued by a review of the exhibition in The Art Newspaper that they decided to fly to L.A. to see...
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Canadian archaeologist Alexander “Sandy” MacGillivray studies disasters for a living. He’s an expert on one of the worst cataclysms in history, the eruption of the volcano on Thera (present-day Santorini, Greece) around 1500 B.C. Thera blackened the world’s skies,...
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This is the first in a series on the Iris about interesting and unusual arts careers. We begin with Rand Eppich of the Getty Conservation Institute, who has combined his skills in architecture, photography, technology, and teaching into a...
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Mexican cooking as we know and love it in the U.S.—moles, carne asada, burritos, cafe con leche, loads of melty cheese—would have been unrecognizable to the Aztecs. They didn’t have cows, pigs, sugar, cheese, butter, cinnamon, or wheat. They...
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Powdered saffron, simmering roots, crushed leaves…no, it’s not what’s cooking in the kitchen, but what’s been cooking at the Getty Villa this quarter for the UCLA/Getty Master’s Program in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials. As part of...
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How do you hold a “secret exhibition”? In 1957, Los Angeles artist George Herms did just that, setting up his assemblage sculptures among the foundation blocks of a row of demolished buildings in Hermosa Beach. The show wasn’t publicized,...
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Leonardo da Vinci worked for 25 years on a complete guide to the human form that would have transformed the study of anatomy in Europe. But the project was never finished and the notes were all but lost for...
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We’ve asked our Museum educators, who work in the galleries and get to know the art as intimate friends, to let us in on lesser-known objects they especially love—and that we ought to explore. First up are three relief...
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During the late 19th century, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) was the most fashionable portrait painter in England and the United States. An example of his iconic style, his Portrait of Thérése, countess Clary Aldringen (1896) is now on view...
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The Iris is a reference to the Getty Museum’s best-known painting: Irises by Vincent van Gogh. That painting is surrounded by knots of visitors most of the time; it’s behind glass because so many people want to reach out...
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