One of the things I was eager to do as soon as the spring semester ended at LMU was to go see Mural by Jackson Pollock at The Getty. Mural, an early work and his largest painting, is an example of abstract expressionism by Pollock. Pollock is my favorite artist and I’ve had the good fortune to see several of his paintings since I moved to LA.
Peggy Guggenheim commissioned Pollock to create a mural for the entry of her New York City townhouse in 1943 and he decided to paint it on canvas so that it could be portable. Legend has it that for weeks he felt frustrated and blocked, but then suddenly painted the entire mural around New Year’s Day 1944. Years later, Pollock was said to have explained he had a vision of an animal stampede in the American West that was the inspiration for Mural, an iconic painting of the twentieth century.
This is a terrific video explaining the paint analysis done on Mural and you might be surprised, as I was, to find out that in addition to oil paint, Pollock used common house paint on Mural.
To learn more about how Pollock applied the paint to the canvas for Mural, watch this …
Here’s a look at the work involved in the restoration of Mural.
While entering the museum, I was so excited to see Mural that I practically forgot about all the other wonderful art I would be seeing. Getting to examine the works of artists like Degas, Renoir, Monet, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Manet, Boucher, and Goya was an incredible experience. Specifically, I was very pleased to see a painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, one of my favorite 19th century artists. I find the astounding amount of detail in every one of his paintings to be truly unbelievable and it was really a treat to finally see one up close. It was also fun to see a painting by Joseph Ducreux who, in addition to being a distinguished and wonderfully unique artist, has achieved internet fame due to a popular meme using one of his self-portraits.
All this magnificent art is housed in architectural splendor surrounded by beautifully unique landscaping and gardens. It all unfolds as you take a tram ride up the hillside to The Getty. Below are some pictures of the paintings, sculptures, and furnishings that fill The Getty’s Pavilions. To see a short caption for each, hover (your cursor) over the image. Click on any of the images to open a full-screen gallery/slideshow…
