Found: Serenity at the Getty

Lauren, Graeme and I hit up the Getty today, the Los Angeles location purchased high on a hill bordering Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air. The museum has a Malibu location as well, but today we could spare just a few hours and since the museum is so close and is free (one of the few free things in Los Angeles!) we made the 15-minute trek anyway.

We gawked at paintings and drawings with dusty-brown washes and artists’ original sketches; models of studio workshops—les ateliers—and allegories of love depicted with blushing beauties and cupids and angels peering down from cloud-swept skies.

Beyond the art housed indoors behind thick stone walls and endless panels of crystal windows, one of the greatest things about the Getty is simply just being there, outside, sunlight gracing your face, overlooking all of Los Angeles in its complexity and chaos and sprawling energy. The “campus” is constructed on two mountain peaks, offering panoramic views of the city, complete with natural ravines and multi-levels that place you parallel to the rustic and wild surrounding landscape. Looking west on a clear day, your eyes might meet ocean waters; rolling your eyes to the east, you’ll find pristine homes and a private vineyard nestled deep within Bel Air.

The Getty’s renowned gardens and waterfall were sprinkled with families and toddlers feeling the tickle of sweet green grass to their soft toes. Couples lay on blankets in the sun as though they were spending an afternoon beachside, picnicking and napping and reading. A little girl in a pink dress sat to the west of a stream and threw off her sandals to cool her pretty feet in the trickling waters. At the garden’s edge, tall Graeme pointed out Brentwood and Westwood and downtown, while traffic flowed endlessly on the 405 freeway, churning and churning as the afternoon wore on.

We’ll be back, only next time we’ll come prepared with blankets and fruit and the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times. The gardens and grass were too inviting to stay away for long.