...a walk through of the Getty Center this past Saturday...

Upon entering the Center.

One would have to think that, when Richard Meier was designing the Getty, that a fellow colleague asked 'how much travertine do you think you need, Dick?'  Richard would plainly answer, "Let's go for lots.  Yes.  Lots and lots."  They would quarry about 108,000 square meters of the stone from the same Tivoli quarry that was used for the Roman Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain.  It reflects light.  On hot days, it reflects heat...and light...into your face.

Kidding aside, Richard Meier, the lead architect of the Center, produced a structure that did not inhibit light, but captured it and uses it to great effect.  Never is the light cloying (although I would be interested how the structure handles interior light at night).  The light moves along walls, floors and into the exhibits with gentleness.

'Travertine' -  it rhymes with gabardine.

The spaces are open, freeing.  Considering the milieu just outside and along nearby Santa Monica and Venice Beach - the wide open spaces across the 600 acres don't blend in with the landscape, as one may expect from other structures of the arts and crafts movement, but the lines caress the landscape of the hill that it is on.  The building that sits atop it is genuine in its effect to open up the vista to the south, east and west.  In a way, you forget the building many times: you cannot escape the lines of it, but the more utilitarian and pedestrian functions of it melt away once you reach the thick railings, or sit at one of the many fountains.

The center garden's and these recognizable wire structures.

Main fountain.

Having been to Rome, Florence and Venice, the fountains seem to be an echo of features one would normally see in traditional spaces.  Natural stone as the subject of the water feature, with mild fountains moving the water around.  Travertine lines most of the ancillary fountains, with natural river stone the foundation for the larger ones.

Moving on to the interiors, briefly spoken of here, we see the outcome of his endeavors, into the presentation of the exhibits themselves.

Opening to European Paintings exhibits.  One of Van Gogh's "Irises" in the background.

Manet's "Madame Brunet".

While in the European collection, two portraits meet you at an angle, either on both sides of a walkway.  The first, "Portrait of Madame Brunet" by Eduoard Manet, offers an arresting use of contrasts - the pale face of its titular subject in opposition of the dark eyes and dark wont of the young woman.  The spot for it, in this chamber meets the natural light from above in a pleasing effect.

With much of art, it is thrilling to be in the presence of a work that typifies more of Manet's familiar pieces like the portraits of "Morisot" or "Olympia".  Like "Brunet", there is an obvious lack of emotion, where we don't require anything but the challenging beauty of the subjects in their non-expressive state.  And, at the Orsay in Paris, Manet's most provocative work, "The Luncheon on the Grass", really echoes the eventuality of aloof hipsters overly engaged in a conversation of how their iPhone playlist should progress between Neon Trees and Imagine Dragons.

 Then, diagonal to it, is the piece I fell in love with.  Attributed mostly to not having been exposed to it before, not expecting to see it and then arrested by the sheer beauty of the piece.

Millet's "Feuardent".

Jean-Francois Millet's "Louise_Antoinette Feuardent" is a challenge, like most paintings, in that a photograph cannot capture the repose of the subject's face.  It is done in such subtle tones, with such a simple glance, it is, as said, arresting to the viewer.  Millet painted this of his friend's wife; by the dress of the young lady displaying her wedding ring and her very sturdy look, you feel as if you are meeting, face-to-face, this subdued woman from 172 years before.

Millet used a limited pallet, to great effect - the finery of the woman's lace, where the realism ends, is the only component that seems to challenge your senses.

Blueprint effect to ceiling of main entry building.

Normal photo of the same.