by

Leticia Marie Sanchez

Cultural Cocktail Hour had the pleasure of visiting the new installations at the Getty Villa. Prior to seeing it firsthand, I honestly wondered how this oasis in Malibu, remodeled after the home of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, could in any way be improved.

After seeing the results of this massive undertaking, I am a believer.

What now comes to the forefront is art history, the progression of stylistic history that becomes clear on a visceral level. The stylish progression from the very formalized, stiff and archaic works to the explosion of naturalism and expressionism becomes apparent as one walks through the galleries at the Getty Villa.  There’s a logic to the stylistic evolution, and one need not be a connoisseur of art to appreciate the stylistic changes that unfold.

In fact, one striking takeaway is that an artistic neophyte could learn more from a stroll through the Getty Villa galleries that from any textbook. Here are some highlights:

*Works from antiquity that have been in storage on view after many years, or in some cases for the first time!

*A renovated gallery dedicated to the age of Alexander the Great & the Hellenistic World.

*A gallery that illustrates “The Classical World in Context” through loans from international museums    

*Displays about collector J. Paul Getty                       

 *A gallery dedicated to the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum, the lavish Roman home that served as the model for the Getty Villa.

And the image below is not a 2018 mom asking her child to bring her laptop it’s a Greek Gravestone of a Woman with her attendant, about 100BC!