Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles. It sits on Museum Row, close to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum).

LACMA began in 1961, when it separated from the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. In 1965, it moved to its current spot on Wilshire Boulevard, a building designed by William Pereira. Over the years, especially in the 1980s, the museum grew richer and added new buildings.

Today, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, welcoming almost a million visitors each year. It holds more than 150,000 pieces of art, showing works from ancient times to today. Besides art displays, the museum also has special films and concerts.

History

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art was started in 1961. Before that, it was part of the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art, which was created in 1913.

Important people helped raise money for the new museum. In 1965, the museum moved to a new building on Wilshire Boulevard. This made it a place just for art, and it was the largest new museum built in the United States after the National Gallery of Art.

In the 1980s, the museum got a lot of money to grow. It added new buildings for modern and contemporary art, as well as a special place for Japanese art and a garden for sculptures.

In 2004, plans were made to change the museum with new buildings. The first part of this plan finished in 2008 with a new entrance and a big space for contemporary art. More plans were made, but some were stopped.

In 2019, a new plan was approved for a big building designed by Peter Zumthor. Work started in 2020, but it faced delays. Finally, in 2026, the new galleries opened to the public. They show many pieces of art from different times and places around the world.

Partnerships

LACMA has partnered with different groups to help protect important places and share art. In 2010, LACMA worked with the City of Los Angeles to help save the Watts Towers by offering support and money.

In 2018, LACMA signed a lease for a big space in South Los Angeles for future projects. Also in 2023, LACMA joined with a foundation to start plans for a new art museum in Las Vegas.

With help from special funds in 2021, LACMA began sharing some of its art with museums in other parts of California. This lets more people see and enjoy the artworks.

Exhibitions

In 1971, a special show called "Art and Technology" started at LACMA, after first being shown in Japan. That same year, LACMA showed work by artists who were not very well known yet. One of the most popular shows ever was "Treasures of Tutankhamun," which many people came to see in 1978. Other successful shows included famous paintings by Vincent van Gogh and works by Picasso.

Today, LACMA shows many different kinds of art, from very old pieces to modern and contemporary works. Recent shows about famous movie directors like Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick were also very popular.

Collections

Further information: List of painters in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art collections

LACMA has more than 120,000 objects spread across many departments, organized by region, type of art, and time period, and displayed in various museum buildings.

Modern and Contemporary Art

Not to be confused with The Broad, another contemporary art museum funded by the Broads, in Downtown Los Angeles.

The Modern Art collection was shown in the Ahmanson Building, which was renovated in 2008. It includes a large staircase meant as a gathering place, similar to Rome's Spanish Steps. The modern collection features works from 1900 to the 1970s, with many pieces from the Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection. In 2025, LACMA received over 130 Austrian Expressionist works from art dealer Otto Kallir's family, adding the first paintings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Richard Gerstl to the museum's collection.

The Contemporary Art collection is displayed in the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), which opened in 2008. It features postwar Modern art from the late 1950s to today, with many pieces from the collection of Eli and Edythe Broad.

The Modern art collection will now be shown in the Geffen Galleries.

American and Latin American art

The Art of the Americas Building had collections of American, Latin American, and pre-Columbian art. It was torn down in 2020, and the exhibits were moved to the Geffen Galleries.

LACMA’s Latin American Art galleries reopened in 2008 after renovation. The collection includes pre-Columbian, Spanish Colonial, Modern, and contemporary works.

The pre-Columbian galleries were redesigned by artist Jorge Pardo. The pre-Columbian collection began in the 1980s and has grown with gifts from collectors like Constance McCormick Fearing and Camilla Chandler Frost.

Asian art

The Korean art collection began with a donation of Korean ceramics in 1966. LACMA claims to have one of the most comprehensive collections outside of Korea and Japan. The Pavilion for Japanese Art displays the Shin'enkan collection donated by Joe D. Price. In 1999, LACMA trustee Eric Lidow and his wife, Leza, donated 75 ancient Chinese works, including bronze objects and Buddhist sculptures.

LACMA also has a rich collection of relics from India, mostly consisting of sculptures of Jain Tirthankaras, Buddha, and Hindu deities. Many paintings from India are also present in the LACMA.

Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art

A large portion of the museum's ancient Greek and Roman art collection was donated by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Islamic art

The museum's Islamic galleries include over 1,700 works from ceramics and inlaid metalwork to enameled glass, carved stone and wood, and arts of the book. The collection began in 1973 with the Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection gifted by philanthropist Joan Palevsky.

Decorative arts and design

In 1990, Max Palevsky gave 32 pieces of Arts and Crafts furniture to LACMA; he later added more pieces and donated money for Arts and Crafts works. In 2000, he donated $2 million for these works. LACMA became a major center for studying and displaying 18th- and 19th-century European clothing with a large purchase in 2009.

Permanent art installations

Los Angeles sculptor Robert Graham created the bronze Retrospective Column for the entrance of the Art of the Americas Building. A contemporary sculpture garden opened in 1991, featuring large outdoor sculptures by artists like Alice Aycock and Ellsworth Kelly. The garden’s centerpiece is Alexander Calder’s mobile Hello Girls, commissioned for the museum’s 1965 opening.

The Ahmanson Building’s atrium displays Tony Smith’s Smoke, a large black painted aluminum artwork. In 2010, the museum acquired it for over $3 million.

Eli and Edythe Broad contributed $10 million to fund the purchase of Richard Serra’s Band sculpture, displayed in BCAM when it opened.

Surrounding BCAM and LACMA’s courtyard is a palm tree garden designed by artist Robert Irwin and landscape architect Paul Comstock. In front of the museum’s Wilshire Boulevard entrance stands Chris Burden’s Urban Light, an installation of 202 antique street lights from cities around Los Angeles. The lights turn on in the evening and are powered by solar panels.

Photography

The Wallis Annenberg Photography Department began in 1984 with a grant from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. It holds over fifteen thousand works from 1839 to today. In 1992, Audrey and Sydney Irmas donated their photography collection, creating the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection of Artists' Self-Portraits. In 2008, the Annenberg Foundation gave $23 million for the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon collection of 19th- and 20th-century photographs, which also established an endowment and capital for storage facilities, leading to the department’s renaming as the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography.

Film

LACMA’s film program began in the late 1960s. In 2009, the museum announced plans to cancel its long-running film series due to declining attendance and funding, which drew criticism from film enthusiasts like director Martin Scorsese. In response, LACMA expanded its movie offerings and partnered with Film Independent to launch a new series. In 2011, LACMA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced plans to open a movie museum, which opened in 2022 as the Academy Museum.

Acquisitions and donors

Individual donors

In 2014, LACMA received a very large donation of art from a businessman named Jerry Perenchio. The donation included 47 pieces by famous artists like Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, and Pablo Picasso. This was one of the biggest gifts ever given to the museum.

Other important donations include a $45 million gift that helped build the Resnick Pavilion and a $25 million gift from BP to name the museum’s main entrance. These donations helped LACMA grow and improve its buildings.

Art councils

Many groups of art lovers have helped LACMA buy new artworks over the years. These groups pay money each year and organize events to raise funds for the museum’s collections. One group, started in 1952, supports the whole museum, while another, begun in 1961, focuses on modern and contemporary art.

Collectors Committee

Each year, special donors meet at LACMA to decide which new artworks the museum should buy. They listen to suggestions from curators and then vote on which pieces to add to the museum’s collection.

LACMA Art + Film Gala

Since 2011, LACMA has held an annual dinner called the Art + Film Gala. This event brings together famous artists and Hollywood leaders to support the museum. Tickets for the gala cost from $5,000 to $100,000, and the money helps fund the museum’s work and collections.

Deaccessioning

Like other museums, LACMA sometimes sells artworks it no longer needs. In 2005, the museum sold 43 pieces at an auction, raising $13 million. This money helped fund the museum’s expansion and new displays.

Programs

In 1966, a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art started a special program called Art and Technology. Artists like Robert Irwin and James Turrell worked with companies such as the Garrett Corporation to explore how we see and understand things. This led to an exhibition at the museum and later traveled to Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. It also helped create a new art style called Light and Space.

In 2014, the museum opened an Art + Tech Lab to continue this idea. Every year, the lab shows new projects where artists use modern technology in fun and creative ways.

Management

Andrea Rich helped grow the museum’s funds and attract more visitors by focusing on different types of art from various parts of the world. She left the museum due to disagreements over hiring for a new art center. In 2008, LACMA proposed joining with another museum to help it get more support.

LACMA is run by a group called Museum Associates, which follows rules set by Los Angeles County. In 2011, the museum had resources worth $300 million. It used special bonds to pay for new buildings and improvements. The county gives about $29 million each year to help cover costs. The museum also gets around $40 million from donations and members to pay for its needs.

The number of visitors has grown over the years. In 2010, about 914,000 people visited. By 2011, it passed one million for the first time, and in 2015, it reached 1.6 million visitors.

LACMA has had several leaders over the years. In 1996, the museum changed its leadership structure, separating the main manager from the art leader. The museum owns a home for its director and bought another house in 2020.

The museum is guided by a board of trustees who decide its direction. Being on the board shows support for the museum, and members help raise money for it. The board has many well-known people who help guide the museum’s future.

LACMA United

In October 2025, workers at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced they had formed a group called LACMA United. They wanted better pay and benefits and asked the museum leaders to talk to them about it. One worker, Aurora van Zoelen Cortés, said they were still thinking about exactly what changes they wanted.

Selected paintings

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has many famous paintings. Some of these include:

• Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Soap Bubbles, from 1739
• Worthington Whittredge, A Home by the Seaside, made around 1872
• Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Cherries and Peaches, painted in 1885
• Paul Gauguin, The Swineherd, from 1888
• Claude Monet, Nympheas, created between 1897 and 1898
• Thomas Eakins, Wrestlers, made in 1899
• Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Sebastià Junyer Vidal (and a Woman), from 1903
• George Bellows, Cliff Dwellers, painted in 1913
• Titian, Portrait of Jacopo (Giacomo) Dolfi, from 1532
• Bernardo Strozzi, St. Catherine of Alexandria, made in 1615
• Ambrosius Bosschaert, Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge, from 1619
• Rembrandt, The Raising of Lazarus, painted in 1630
• Rembrandt, Portrait of Martin Looten, from 1632
• Georges de La Tour, Magdalene with the Smoking Flame, created in 1640
• Philippe de Champaigne, Saint Augustine, made between 1645 and 1650
• Mattia Preti, Saint Veronica with the Veil, from 1655 to 1660
• Nicolás Correa, The Imposition of the Chasuble on Saint Ildephonsus, around 1700
• Thomas Lawrence, Portrait of Arthur Atherley as an Etonian, painted in 1791
• Edgar Degas, The Bellelli Sisters, from 1865
• Mary Cassatt, Mother About to Wash Her Sleepy Child, made in 1880
• Paul Cézanne, Sous-Bois, created in 1894
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jean Renoir as a Hunter, from 1910
• Amedeo Modigliani, Young Woman of the People, painted in 1918
• Georgia O'Keeffe, Horse's Skull with Pink Rose, made in 1931

Selected objects

Here are some special pieces you can see at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art:

• Ashurnasirpal II and a Winged Deity, from Northern Iraq, made of gypseous alabaster in the 9th century BC
• Dog with Human Mask, from Mexico, a slip-painted ceramic sculpture from 200 BC–AD 500
• Standing Warrior, from Mexico, a slip-painted ceramic sculpture from around 200 BC–AD 300
• Funerary Sculpture of a Horse, from China, made of molded earthenware sculpture from 25–220
• Hindu God Vishnu, from Cambodia, made of sandstone around 950
• Kannon Bosatsu, from Japan, a carved wood piece from the 12th century
• Jar (Ping) with Dragon and Clouds, from China, made of Cizhou ware from 1279–1368
• Maruyama Ōkyo, Cranes, from Japan, a pair of six-panel screens made with ink, color, and gold leaf on paper in 1772
• Ancestor Figure (moai kavakava), from Easter Island (Rapa Nui), made of wood, bird bone, obsidian, and traces of pigment, around 1830
• Michael Heizer, Levitated Mass, from 2012
• Silver teapot made by colonial silversmith Jacob Hurd, around 1730