There's great art in L.A. Here's the LAist guide of where to go to see it

L.A. still is holding on as the world’s creative capital. You know that if you live here — and you’ll see it when you visit. Paris had its time in the limelight in the 19th century, and New York took the badge in the 20th century before passing the baton to the West Coast.

There are too many arts institutions in the five-county Southern California region to list, so we’ll give you the highlights, for those times in between World Cup matches when you just want to kick back and look at interesting art.

The Getty

The Getty Center.

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Courtesy The Getty

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After it was built in 1997, the Getty was criticized for being literally and figuratively high up in Brentwood, way above street level. Now the downtown L.A. to ocean views are an L.A.-must, especially at sunset if you have someone to cuddle with. The institution was founded by and is financed by some of the millions of dollars made by early 20th century oil baron J. Paul Getty. He sure did love his Greek and Roman antiquities. Many are on display at the Getty Villa, the museum that preceded the Getty. This is the place for painting, photography, films and so much more. Two personal favorites: Christ’s Entry into Brussels at the Getty in Brentwood and the Victorious Youth at the Getty Villa. If you want to go to both, go for it. It’ll take a 20- to 45-minute drive depending on traffic.

MOCA

The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles is the city’s world-renowned, artist-founded museum established in 1979, which displays art made after 1940. MOCA is where you go to stand or sit in front of five Mark Rothko paintings to tap into the spiritual experience. If you’ve never seen a Jackson Pollock drip painting IRL, go to MOCA to see theirs. (It’s like nothing you can look at online, no matter how high the res). MOCA has three locations: the main site on Grand Avenue, the Little Tokyo location (known as the Geffen) and for the really adventurous, a work of land art in the Nevada desert titled Double Negative. 

The Broad

The Broad Museum.

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John Horn

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LAist

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Stand outside MOCA on Grand Avenue in downtown L.A., look across the street to the Broad and ask yourself, what’s the difference? It’s a good question. Well, the Broad is much newer than MOCA, and its vision and collection were shaped by its founder, the late billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad (a billionaire when it was a big deal). Broad collected artists like Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, Jasper Johns and many others. The Broad is where you come to take a selfie in the Infinity Mirror Rooms. It’s free, but there’s usually a line for entry. 

The LA County Museum of Art (LACMA)

LACMA members get a preview of the inside of the David Geffen Galleries on July 1, 2025.

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James Chow / LAist

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The museum’s roots go back more than 100 years in L.A., but its just-inaugurated rebuild puts LACMA firmly in the future. The new galleries upend the museum experience: no white walls and art arranged by ocean themes, rather than linear timelines. What’s there? A beautiful Matisse that’ll make you think you’ve walked into a plant-filled glade, "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" by Hokusai, an awe-inspiring Virgin of Guadalupe painting from 1691, contemporary Black and Chicano art. It’s L.A.’s encyclopedic museum, holder of more than 155,000 objects, spanning 6,000 years of human creation. Oh, and a soccer-themed exhibit. When you step outside the galleries, stroll the campus and maybe patronize the Erewhon market on-site for a quintessential L.A. experience.

The Skirball Cultural Center

Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories: Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Photo courtesy of the Skirball Cultural Center.

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The Skirball was founded in 1996 based on Jewish values that "[center] discovery and hope, foster human connections and call upon us to help build a more just society.” Its exhibits range from explorations of Jewish life in America to an exhibit of punk rock culture from 1976 to 1986 in L.A., New York London, and Washington, D.C.

The Norton Simon

The Mulberry Tree, a painting by Vincent Van Gogh on display at the Norton Simon Museum.

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Courtesy Norton Simon Museum

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Van Gogh fans can get their fix in L.A. Several museums have significant holdings of his art. But you really have to start at the Norton Simon in Pasadena to see the six paintings by Van Gogh they have on display. Yet there’s so much more to see at the Norton Simon, like Rodin sculptures and a very calming and peaceful garden.

Grammy Museum

The Capitol Records building in Hollywood is iconic, but the Grammy Museum in downtown L.A. immerses you in the songs and music of multiple U.S. generations. Want to see Taylor Swift’s 2010 Grammy Award for Best Country Song? It’s here. Michael Jackson’s 1988 sequined gloves? They’re here too.

The Hammer

The exterior of the Hammer Museum, located on Wilshire Blvd in Westwood Village.

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George Rose

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Getty Images

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The list of 20th century oil barons and industrialists who lived in L.A. and collected extraordinary works of art is not short. That’s one of the reasons L.A. museums have so much good art; the works were donated after they died. That’s how the Hammer started, but in the past couple of decades this institution, now run by UCLA, has been a key place to see the most exciting contemporary art coming out of Southern California and the U.S.

The Franklin D. Sculpture Garden at UCLA

Bottom line: The Franklin D. Sculpture Garden is a nice place to have a picnic lunch or dinner at dusk among the Auguste Rodin and Henry Moore sculptures. Just a short walk away is an outdoor Richard Serra sculpture, whose amber steel is aging nicely. 

California African American Museum

A gallery at the California African American Museum.

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Elon Schoenholz

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California African American Museum

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Black art in the U.S. owes a lot to Black artists in Los Angeles. Not only did prominent artists relocate to Southern California in the 20th century, Southern California’s economically diverse Black population became a market for Black art. You’ll see the scope at the California African American museum south of downtown L.A.

Self Help Graphics & Art

Self Help Graphics & Art Marketplace.

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Eric Jaipal

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Self Help Graphics & Art

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One scholar credits this Boyle Heights arts institution as one of the first, in 1972, to hold Day of the Dead celebrations in the U.S. Since then, Self Help Graphics & Arts has become a vibrant institution for the region’s art made by Chicanas, Chicanos, Latinas and Latinos. The bad news is that Self Help is mainly active in community events listed here while the building undergoes major renovations.

The Japanese American National Museum

The Japanese American National Museum's Pavilion building in Los Angeles.

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Paloma Dooley

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This community has contributed to all aspects of Southern California life since L.A. was still a dusty town. The museum captures Japanese American cultural and artistic life. The building is undergoing renovations, but there are still programs in and around Little Tokyo in downtown L.A.

The Autry Museum of the American West

The Autry Museum of the American West.

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Courtesy The Autry Museum

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Yes, you’ll see the various histories of cowboy life in the U.S., but since its merging with the Southwest Museum, the Autry has become a large repository of Native American arts in Southern California. Its curating of exhibits finds commonalities among cultures in the American West.