Nearly a century before Jackson Pollock shook up the art world with his drip paintings, 19th-century rebel Gustave Courbet was laying the foundation for modern art with his innovative landscapes.

See almost 50 of Courbet's expressive, color-saturated paintings in this Premiere Presentation, which takes a fresh look at his unconventional compositions and techniques and their influence on 20th-century art.

Want to know more? Two dynamic speakers lecture on Courbet this month: Charlotte Eyerman speaks on Courbet's influence on 20th-century art on March 9, and Richard Brettell discusses the Impressionists who followed Courbet on March 19.

Learn more about this exhibition.

"Art reengages us with life," says Robert Adams, whose photographs capture moments of sublime beauty in the increasingly industrialized American West.

Like Courbet's paintings of the French countryside, Adams' views of main streets, tract houses, trees, and waterways convey a powerful sense of place. They inspire hope even as they document environmental damage and moments of alienation.

Get involved with a gallery course on landscape on March 12 and 19 or a lecture on key photographs in the exhibition on March 23.

Learn more about this exhibition.

Do we erase history when we rebuild monuments after the fires of war? Berlin art historian Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper discusses this question with a focus on three reconstructed European icons—Goethe's house in Frankfurt, the Mostar Bridge in Bosnia, and the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Learn how politics and nostalgia combined with a desire for reconciliation to bring back these vanished monuments.

Free; reservations required.

Learn more and make reservations.

The Paris Piano Trio is a partnership of three of France's greatest musicians: violinist Régis Pasquier, cellist Roland Pidoux, and pianist Jean-Claude Pennetier. In this rare Los Angeles appearance, they perform music by Debussy, Fauré, and Chausson to complement the exhibition Courbet and the Modern Landscape.

Tickets $20; students/seniors $15. Call (310) 440-7300 for tickets.

Learn more and hear a music sample from the performers.

Getty Conservation Institute Chief Scientist Giacomo Chiari has spent 25 years studying the hidden structures of art, from the pigments of pre-Columbian murals to the structure of ancient tower houses in Yemen. In this lecture, "Science and Conservation of Cultural Heritage: Michelangelo to Bonampak or Lapis Lazuli to Maya Blue," Chiari discusses how advances in conservation science are helping to preserve objects of cultural heritage across the world, including Michelangelo's Last Judgment and murals painted with the intriguing ancient pigment known as Maya Blue.

Free; reservations required.

Learn more and make reservations.

Egyptology was born in 1822 with the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Less than two decades later, the invention of the camera brought the first photographs of this far-off land to curious Europeans and helped transform Egyptology from antiquarian pastime to scientific study.

Find out about this fascinating train of events from photographic historian Kathleen Stewart Howe in a lecture complementing the exhibition Antiquity & Photography: Early Views of Ancient Mediterranean Sites. The exhibition will be open until 8:00 p.m. on the evening of the lecture.

Free; reservations required. Reservations available beginning Thursday, February 23, at 9:00 a.m.

Learn more and make reservations.

What is the sound of minimalism? The Getty Research Institute joins forces with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to explore the question with a series of events featuring leading artists and critics of the movement.

A concert by Terry Riley follows a scholarly conference and an afternoon of conversation at the Getty Center on March 31; the discussion continues at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on April 1.

Conference and roundtable are free; reservations are required. Concert tickets are $10.

Learn more and make reservations.

Explore folk traditions and nature at this Family Festival inspired by the exhibition Courbet and the Modern Landscape.

Hear music from the French provinces, dive into picturesque folktales, and make your own landscape inspired by the Getty Center's dramatic setting.

Learn more and see the day's full schedule.

Check our online event calendar for even more events.

This month, two installments of Friday Nights at the Getty feature hip, offbeat performers: rock musician Chip Taylor and singer/violinist Carrie Rodriguez and indie bands Califone and The Books.

Sounds of L.A. also continues at the Getty Center in March with two performances by Indo-Canadian ghazal singer Kiran Ahluwalia.

The Getty Research Institute offers a suite of great programs, including Italian designer Ettore Sottsass in conversation, a lecture on American collector Andrew W. Mellon by British historian David Cannadine, and an appearance by filmmaker and writer Jeffrey Skoller.

Reservations are also available beginning February 23 for two more upcoming events at the Getty Villa—a musical adaptation of Aristophanes' The Wasps and a lecture by architect Jorge Silvetti on the redesign of the Getty Villa.

Most events are FREE.

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