New Getty Center Will Open In Fall Of ‘97

The new Getty Center, draped in dreams, discussions and drawing boards for 13 years, is just months away from becoming a showcase as enticing as some of the artwork it will display.

Set to open to the public in the fall 1997, the Getty Center brings together all parts of the $4 billion J. Paul Getty Trust. The museum, grant program and institutes for art education, conservation, research, information and museum management each have their own rooms on the $800 million campus.

The museum began with $1.2 billion left by oil baron J. Paul Getty after his death in 1976. It has made its home in Malibu in a replica of a Roman villa, filled with antiquities and an acclaimed collection of European decorative arts, drawings and paintings, including Renaissance masters and post-Impressionists.

Now the center is moving into its new 25-acre complex atop a coveted piece of hillside real estate in Brentwood, framed by the downtown skyline and the Pacific Ocean.

The center will have an auditorium, exhibit space for the research institute and a 750,000-volume library with reading areas. There will also be a central garden designed by Los Angeles artist Robert Irwin.

About 1.5 million visitors are expected annually.

The museum will provide twice the exhibit space for the center’s artwork. Paintings in its growing Impressionist and post-Impressionist collection, including Claude Monet’s “Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning” and Vincent van Gogh’s “Irises,” will be displayed in natural light.

Inside, walls will be lined with paintings and rooms furnished with European decorative arts. Outside, Meier abandoned his trademark white exteriors to cover the complex with 200,000 cubic feet of beige stone imported from Italy.