We proceeded on to Oceanside (north of San Diego) and a visit with Vicki's brother Bob and his wife Beth. This included, of course, a drive across LA, the traffic density and velocity of which were, um, interesting. After dark, an accident near San Capistrano caused a total stoppage of the interstate and a delay of two hours. Welcome to southern California. We stayed a couple nights with Bob and Beth, but spent the middle day taking the Amtrak back to LA, and, via an assortment of buses and Uber/Lyfts, visited the Getty Museum, which has long been high on our list of desired museum sights, although for somewhat obscure reasons: a) it's a museum of some architectural/collections note, and b) in 1992, I was a finalist there for the position of assistant to the president (or something like that). I still chiefly remember dropping the Foundations Directory at the SMU library, stunned upon reading that the Getty endowment was then $4 billion. "Billion" was a term not often heard in 1992. Eventually, after two visits, there were internal realignments, the search was canceled, and I stayed at SMU another three years. Among life's many twists and turns and dead-ends. It was my one and only experience, as a searchee, with a search firm.
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| Amtrak view en route |
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| Arrival in LA |
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So the Getty is up on a hill on the west side, near UCLA, and it
affords some views of the city; we eschewed the Getty Villa, preferring
to see our classical art in Rome and Athens, etc. |
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The museum campus consists of 6-7 large travertine-clad buildings,
housing not merely the museum collection, but also the administration,
Getty photos/archives, and its extensive research activities; all attractively
landscaped and dotted with sculpture; all built in the last 20 years or so |
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| Turner's Modern Rome--Campo Vaccino, 1839 |
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| Delacroix' Moroccan Horseman Crossing a Ford, 1850 |
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Turner's Van Tromp..., 1844; Turner was not into the whole brevity
thing... |
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| Goya's Bullfight, 1824 |
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| Millet's Man with a Hoe, 1860 |
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| Manet's Portrait of Madame Brunet, 1862 |
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| Courbet's Grotto of Sarrazine..., 1864 |
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| Degas' After the Bath, 1895 |
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| Berthe Morisot, The Shuttlecock, 1888 |
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| Renoir, Portrait of Albert Cahen d'Anvers, 1881 |
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| Manet, The Rue Mosnier with Flags, 1878 |
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| van Gogh, Irises, 1889 |
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| Monet, Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning, 1891 |
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| Monet, The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light, 1894 |
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| Munch, Starry Night, 1893 |
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Among sculptures in the various courtyards...Magritte's
La Folie de Grandeurs |
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| Interesting landscaping |
