Summer Stories: Getty Villa

This summer, my dad hosted the "5 Days of Fluffy" for my Mom's 50th birthday. We had activities planned for the 5 days leading up to her birthday which included a beach bonfire/dinner, stand up paddle boarding in San Clemente, lunch in Malibu, and visiting the Getty Villa.

The Getty Villa is the second museum location of J. Getty's art collection. It's located in Malibu, and focuses on mirroring ancient Greek architecture and displaying collections of ancient Roman and Greek art and sculptures.

I've visited the Getty Center twice before (once with the family and once with Scott), but this was the first time I've seen the Getty Villa. I actually preferred the Villa experience because I've always had a great interest in ancient Roman culture (specifically mythology), so it was nice having a genuine interest in most of the art. I can't be the only one who has to fein interest in some art galleries to convince myself that I'm cultured too.

Anyway, the architecture of the Getty Villa was amazing, and all the different fountains were my favorite part of the Villa.

My favorite picture I took!

These guys and I talked, and ends up we have a lot in common so we decided to take a picture together. Ends up we even look alike! (I'm such a weirdo.)

We spent most of the time before lunch exploring the Villa and looking at the art pieces that were spread around downstairs, so we decided to take a lunch break before tackling the art intensive upstairs. We snagged a table from the outside cafe tables, and broke out our picnic materials. I'm not sure if we're usually allowed to do that, but all the picnic tables were being used by school groups. While our baguette and turkey sandwiches were really good, the smell of freshly cooked pizza that was around us was a little hard to ignore. 

After lunch, we explored the second floor and galleries of the Getty Villa. It was divided into two main galleries: one regarding ancient Greek and Roman sexuality and another dealing with the daily life of an ancient greek (I forget the actual name of it). We started looking at the daily life side, and my favorite part was the ancient jewelry and coins.

Jewelry

Gold Belt, necklaces, and Bracelets

The sexuality exhibit was really interesting, but the funniest part was watching my Mom's reaction to the artwork and exhibits. The sculptures especially were great, and it was interesting to see the ancient definition of beauty (there were a lot of sculptures labeled "Beautiful Women,""Beautiful Male," or "Aphrodite/Venus"). 

Visiting the Getty Villa is definitely a necessity when living (or visiting) in Southern California so I'm glad that we all got to go!