Tales of Trips & Tours by Patty Gaffney … the Gorgeous Getty Center
On a Wednesday of beautiful fall sunlight, twenty-five Daytrippers made the 90-plus minute drive to the Getty Center. For some of our club members, it was the first time visiting, and for others, it remains a favorite destination.
The Central Garden, opened in 1997, is a site-conditional art installation, designed by artist Robert Irwin (1928-2023). His design features a path meandering downhill beneath a canopy of London plane trees and crisscrossing a stream. The water flows from the amphora basin, and as it gains momentum, becomes louder as it travels to the bottom. Irwin’s design puts the strolling visitor in intimate physical contact with densely planted floral beds evoking all the senses. The path opens to the vista of an azalea maze that appears to float beneath a waterfall cascading into a manmade pond.
Engraved on the floor of the Central Garden is a quote from Robert Irwin, “Always changing, never twice the same.” This inscription reflects the artist’s philosophy that the garden is a living work of art that will constantly change, evolving over years and even with the subtle Southern California seasons. On Wednesday, the fall colors were aflame.
Daytrippers sampled the lunch offerings at the cafeteria style Cafe alongside Getty Center employees and traipsed the travertine steps to explore the collections on display. Some of us found the cactus garden at the southern end of the campus, the silhouette of which mimics the downtown LA skyline. Others enjoyed the light filled paintings of Claude Monet’s snowy Wheat stacks, and Vincent Van Gogh’s Irises, or marveled at the colors and details of the illuminated manuscripts. Still others explored the lavish 18th century French decorative arts with the Rococo and Neoclassical furniture, porcelain and ceramics. We ended the day with a visit to the museum store before taking the tram back to the parking lot. While the drive home may have taken a couple of hours even in the carpool lane, Daytrippers declared the T&T a success, an inspiring day!
The Daytrippers had a lovely, full sensory day, and the T&T duo (Patty Gaffney & Synthia Scofield) looks forward to seeing more of you in the future.
