The Renowned Getty Center Owns One of the Top European Artwork Acquisitions in the United States

(MakbarLee). Submitted on Sat, 16 Oct 2010

The acclaimed Getty Center, situated in the picturesque mountains of Brentwood, CA, displays one of the best European artwork acquisitions in the United States. The Getty Museum's artwork collection is shared between the Getty Center and the Getty Villa, the original Getty Museum and home of J. Paul Getty in Malibu, CA. The ever growing collection contains more than 44,000 art objects, spanning over five thousand years of world history and consists of European paintings, drawings, sculpture, historical manuscripts, modern arts, and American and European photography. The Getty Center was finally opened in 1998 after ten years of construction and an estimated three billion dollars in construction costs. The large museum complex consists of several modernly-styled buildings that surround an open courtyard, a pavilion, and a central garden. In addition to the museum, the Getty Center is home to the Getty Research Institute and Getty Conservation Institute.



The Getty Center was constructed through charitable funding received from the J. Paul Getty Trust, the wealthiest art institution in the world with a net worth of over $4.2 billion dollars. Paul Getty saw art as a humanizing influence and believed the visual arts should be made available to everyone and enjoyed by all. Since his trust was established in 1953, the original Getty Museum, located in Paul Getty's private residence in Malibu, CA, underwent a sequence of upgrades and building improvements. In 1982, The Getty Trust exercised an option to construct another museum in a second location, and in the preceding year, the museum location in the mountains above Los Angeles was purchased for the Getty Center. In 1998, the Getty Center opened its doors to the residents of Los Angeles and currently exhibits a significant portion of the Getty art collection.

An excursion to the Getty Center should cover at least the highlights of its art collection. Vincent Van Gogh's Irises was created during the artists stay at the St Remy mental sanatorium in France. Van Gogh referred to this masterpiece as "the lightning conductor for my illness" and was one of his final paintings before to his death. Arii Matamoe or "The Royal End" is a painting of a decapitated human head situated in an elegant room by French painter, Paul Gauguin, who was well known for his artworks involving death and anti-Imperialism in his artworks. The Portrait of a Halberdier, a painting by Italian Renaissance artist, Potornmo, is a fine example of the artist's representation of his human subjects that seem to hover in the air. Also not to be missed is Albrecht Durer's Stag Bettle, a masterpiece painted with incredible detail of the insect's body. Durer, a true Renaissance. Lastly, the Stanheim Missal is one of the most well preserved hand-written, orthodox manuscripts in existence from the 12th century Saxony.

 

About the Author

Makbar Lee is an art museum lover and author for Art-Museum-Guide.com your free web guide for art museums all over the world.

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