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Zeitgeist: Art in the Germanic World, 1800–1900

Daily through May 17, 2015
West Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center

Between 1800 and 1900 the Germanic world underwent profound intellectual, social, economic, and political changes. The Industrial Revolution, the formal unification of Germany into a nation state, and the invention of psychoanalysis shaped modern life and its representations in art. This exhibition—which includes the works of Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840), Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810), and Gustav Klimt (1862–1918)—brings together paintings, drawings, and prints from the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, and distinguished local private collections to examine this pivotal moment in Germanic history. 

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J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free

Daily through May 24, 2015
Exhibitions Pavilion, Getty Center

Extraordinarily inventive and enduringly influential, J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) produced his most important and famous pictures after the age of sixty, in the last fifteen years of his life. Demonstrating ongoing radicalism of technique and ever-original subject matter, these works show Turner constantly challenging his contemporaries while remaining keenly aware of the market for his art. Bringing together over sixty key oil paintings and watercolors, this major international loan exhibition is the first to focus on the unfettered creativity of Turner's final years.

The exhibition was organized by Tate Britain, in association with the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

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Give and Ye Shall Receive: Gift Giving in the Middle Ages

Daily through March 15, 2015
North Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center

In the Middle Ages, gift exchange helped people define their relationships to family and friends, to acquaintances and strangers, to God and to church. This exhibition, drawn from the Museum's permanent collection, examines models for giving found in scripture and in the lives of the saints, explores how gift giving functioned in medieval society, and highlights the special role of the medieval book as a gift.

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Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful

Daily through March 22, 2015
West Pavilion, Lower Level, Getty Center

After photographing theatrical productions in Prague and Roma settlement camps across Eastern Europe, Josef Koudelka (born 1938) risked his life and career to document the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. His images of the event, smuggled into the West and reproduced worldwide, forced his exile. This exhibition—the first U.S. retrospective devoted to Koudelka since 1988—presents more than 180 works produced over six decades by this legendary photographer, including early photographic experiments, vintage Gypsies book prints and maquettes, and a selection of large-scale panoramas that he has made since 1986. This exhibition was co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago.

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The Life of Art: Context, Collecting, and Display

Daily
South Pavilion, Plaza Level, Getty Center

From the time an object is made until the day it enters a museum's collection, it may be displayed, used, and perceived in different ways. The Life of Art takes selected objects from the Getty Museum's galleries and encourages visitors to sit down and spend time with them, offering the opportunity to examine them closely to understand how they were made and functioned, why they were collected, and how they have been displayed. Through careful looking, what may be learned about the maker and previous owners of a French gilt-bronze wall light, for example, or the transformation in England of a Chinese porcelain bowl? Close engagement reveals the full lives of these works and why they continue to be collected and cherished today.

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In Focus: Play

Daily through May 10, 2015
West Pavilion, Lower Level, Getty Center

The introduction of photography in 1839 coincided with major social and economic changes spurred by the Industrial Revolution and a burgeoning culture of leisure. In addition to documenting historic events, this new medium was used to record the everyday, including the many ways people spent their free time. With the advent of faster film and handheld cameras, dancing and carousing were captured with the same enthusiasm as moments of respite and quiet contemplation. This exhibition traces the development of play as a photographic subject through the works of artists such as Eugène Atget, Roger Fenton, Lauren Greenfield, Bill Owens, and Larry Sultan among others.

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World War I: War of Images, Images of War

Daily through April 19, 2015
Research Institute Galleries I and II, Getty Center

World War I: War of Images, Images of War examines the art and visual culture of the First World War—a conflict of unprecedented mechanized slaughter as well as a struggle over the cultural dominance and direction of Europe. The exhibition juxtaposes the representation of the war in visual propaganda with its depiction by artists who experienced the brutality firsthand. Drawing principally from the Getty Research Institute's special collections, the exhibition features a range of satirical journals, prints, posters, and photographs as well as accounts from the front, including a war diary, correspondence, and "trench art" made by soldiers. Through such archival and graphic material, World War I: War of Images, Images of War captures the trauma of this first modern war.

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Architecture Tour

Daily
10:15 am, 11 am, 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, 4 pm
Museum Entrance Hall, Getty Center

Discover more about Richard Meier's architecture and the design of the Getty Center site in this 45-minute tour. Meet the docent outside at the bench under the sycamore trees near the front entrance to the Museum.

Spotlight of the Week

Daily, February 24 - March 1, 2015
10:30 am, 12 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center

Did you see the giant boy? Return to the steps and encounter Charles Ray's Boy with Frog during this 15-minute talk. Meet at the Information Desk

Collection Highlights Tour

Daily through March 1, 2015
11 am, 1 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center

Garden Tour

Daily
11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm
Getty Center

The gardens of the Getty are the focus of this 45-minute tour. Meet the docent outside at the bench under the sycamore trees near the front entrance to the Museum.

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Focus Tour: Era of Impressionism

Daily through March 8, 2015
12:30 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center

Explore the Getty’s collection of 19th-century paintings by artists such as Millet, Monet, and Van Gogh in this one-hour tour. The talk may also include examples of sculpture, photographs, or drawings. Meet the docent at the Information Desk. 

Focus Tour: Fit for a King

Daily through March 1, 2015
1:30 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center

Explore the Getty's collection of 17th- and 18th-century art in this one-hour tour of French decorative arts, paintings, and sculpture made during the reigns of kings Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI. Meet at the Information Desk.

Exhibition Tour: Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful

Daily through March 1, 2015
2:30 pm
Museum Galleries, Getty Center

This 45-minute talk explores the exhibition Josef Koudelka: Nationality Doubtful, a retrospective of the exiled Czech photographer's five-decade long career. Meet at the Information Desk.