.L.A.’s thriving cultural scene offers thought-provoking creativity in every shape and form imaginable. But while there are tons of world-class museums in Los Angeles to lose yourself in all year round, there are a few that stand out as must-sees. Here are the best museum installations and art exhibits in Los Angeles that you simply cannot miss.
1. Only The Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s-1970s
Visit the first North American exhibition presenting the groundbreaking work of Korean artists in the wake of the Korean War (1950-53). Only The Young presents almost eighty works and archival materials that take you through the social and political dynamics of the newly formed Republic of Korea. Learn about how artists fought back against the abstract styles of the time to present more provocative, avant-garde, and innovative creations.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Only The Young: Experimental Art in Korea is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through May 12, 2024
๐ Location: Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
2. Blood: Medieval/Modern
This unique exhibition at the Getty Center takes visitors through medieval and modern presentations of blood in art. See how blood is portrayed in the realms of religion, medicinal treatments, familial bloodlines, mythological events, HIV/AIDS, feminism, and more compelling contexts. Guests will see a remarkable common thread throughout these provocative themes spanning almost 1,000 years of artwork.ย
๐๏ธ Tickets: Blood: Medieval/Modern is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through May 19, 2024
๐ Location: Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles
3. Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
The Broad presents a touring special exhibition showcasing the work of illustrious artist Mickalene Thomas, who specializes in several disciplines including mixed-media painting, collage, and photography. See over 80 works from the last twenty years of Thomas’ career, which examine Black female representation through portraiture.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Mickaline Thomas: All About Love
๐๏ธ Dates: May 25-Sept. 29, 2024
๐ Location: The Broad, 221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles
4. Groove: Artists and Intaglio Prints, 1500 to Now
Learn about the intaglio medium with an intricate showcase of prints across five hundred years. Intaglio is a technique in which the artist inks a copper or zinc plate by using engravings and etchings to transfer the artwork, a process that has remained largely unchanged since the fifteenth century. See over 80 prints organized chronologically and follow the evolution of the form over time.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Groove: Artists and Intaglio Prints is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through June 16, 2024
๐ Location: Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
5. Camille Claudel
In the 19th century when women sculptors were scarce, French figurative sculptor Camille Claudel stood out as a visionary artist of her time. Her eventful life was marked by her relationship with artist Auguste Rodin and decades spent in a psychiatric institution before dying in obscurity in 1943. But she gained recognition posthumously around France for complex works including famous sculptures The Waltz and The Mature Age. This major exhibition at the Getty Center presents 60 groundbreaking sculptures to reaffirm Claudel’s legacy.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Camille Claudel is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through July 21, 2024
๐ Location: Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Dr, Los Angeles
6. The Curious World of Seaweed
This temporary exhibition at the California Science Center presents gorgeous color “portraits” of seaweed specimens, mostly through the perspectives of Indigenous peoples and women. As kelp forests decline along our coastline, it’s a good time to learn about the history and significance of seaweed in our local marine ecosystem.
๐๏ธ Tickets: The Curious World of Seaweed
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through July 21, 2024
๐ Location: California Science Center, 700 Exposition Park Dr., Los Angeles
7. Scratching at the Moon
This LA exhibition displays a carefully curated presentation of works by thirteen Asian American artists, rooted in recent social justice movements. Each artist is either based in LA or has strong ties to the city, and the works demonstrate their respective experiences with gender roles, structural racism, immigration, gentrification, and family. See work from Patty Chang, Young Chung, Yong Soon Min, and more.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Scratching at the Moon is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: Open now through May 12, 2024
๐ Location: ICA LA, 1717 E 7th St, Los Angeles
8. Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery
This Getty Villa exhibition presents ancient terracotta vessels from the Greeks of the Mediterranean, the Maya of Central America, and the Moche of northern Peru. See how these diverse ceramic traditions intersect with each other through the art of storytelling.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Picture Worlds is free to visit, but requires a reservation
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through July 29, 2024
๐ Location: Getty Villa, 17985 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades
9. John Waters: Pope of Trash
Discover the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to John Waters, whose 60-year filmmaking career has presented some of the most memorable and eccentric cult movies including Pink Flamingos (1972), Hairspray (1988), Pecker (1998), and Mondo Trasho (1969). Explore Waters’ complete filmography with over 400 works on display including handwritten scripts, set decoration and props, costumes, photographs, correspondence, and film clips.
๐๏ธ Dates: Open now through Aug. 4, 2024
๐ Location: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
10. Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting
Explore a groundbreaking new LACMA exhibit delving into Islamic art and culinary traditions, with over 250 works related to the process of sourcing, preparing, serving, and consuming food. Learn about luxury tableware objects and the way in which elaborate food service influenced life in Islamic courts, all while stimulating your appetite and your appreciation for the importance of sharing a meal. The exhibition also holds a “kids table” companion show with Saturday art workshops at Charles White Elementary School.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Dining with the Sultan is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Aug. 4, 2024
๐ Location: Resnick Pavilion, LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
11. Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum’s seasonal Butterfly Pavilion is back! Step into an enclosed garden area aflutter with hundreds of colorful butterflies representing up to 30 different species, including the Mourning cloak and Common buckeye. You’ll learn about the butterfly life cycle from eggs to caterpillars to chrysalises, all within a colorful outdoor garden setting that’s perfect for kids. In fact, it’s not the only place to spot butterflies in Los Angeles right now — see our full guide to L.A. butterfly pavilions here.
๐๏ธ Tickets: The Butterfly Pavilion costs $8 per person on top of general admission.ย
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Aug. 25, 2024
๐ Location: Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd, Los Angeles
12. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh: Finding Soft Ground
Brooklyn-based artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh explores the significance and power of Black image through wheat-pasted prints, oil paintings, graphite drawings, and film. This exhibition transforms three galleries at A+P to examine the street, home, and natural world from the perspective of Black feminist theory, considering the conditions of safety for Black women in these spaces. It’s presented in tandem with Fazlalizadeh’s CAAM installation Speaking to Falling Seeds, which showcases portraits of Black women from when the artist lived in L.A. in 2023.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh: Finding Soft Ground is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Aug. 10, 2024
๐ Location: Art and Practice, 3401 W 43rd Pl, Los Angeles
13. Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak
See the West Coast debut of a major exhibition celebrating the work of Maurice Sendak, best known for the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are (1963). The Skirball Cultural Center presents a collection of over 150 sketches, storyboards, and paintings by Sendak himself presented alongside the final published books. The exhibition also includes a reading area with books and sketching materials.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Wild Things Are Happening is viewable with general admission tickets to the Skirball Cultural Center
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Sept. 1, 2024
๐ Location: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles
14. The American Library
Explore artist Yinka Shonibare’s immersive installation displaying six thousand books, all of which are wrapped in colorful textiles. Each book bears the name of a US immigrant or Black American who was affected by the Great Migration, in which six million Black people migrated from the American South to the rest of the United States between the 1910s and 1970s.
๐๏ธ Tickets: The American Libraryย is viewable with general admission tickets to the Skirball Cultural Center
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Sept. 1, 2024
๐ Location: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles
15. Eyes on the Road: Art of the Automotive Landscape
In the early 20th century, automotive designs and highway systems reached a level of standardization that most drivers take for granted these days. In this exhibition, The Petersen Museum presents a collection of oft-overlooked automobiles designed by visual artists. These weird and wonderful designs include the spaceship-like 1955 Chrysler Ghia Gilda; the three-wheeled 1933 Dymaxion, which looks like a submarine; and the 1956 American Motors Astra-Gnome with a cartoonish clear bubble body.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Eyes on the Road is viewable with general admission tickets to the Petersen Museum.
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Nov 2024
๐ Location: Petersen Museum,ย 6060 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
16. The Art of Movie Making: The Godfather
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures presents an array objects and artifacts from The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974), an opportunity for film buffs to learn about the making of one of Hollywood’s most storied film franchises. See costumes, props, scripts, and equipment, many of which have never been presented to the public, and all of which provide valuable insight to the process of filmmaking in the ’70s.
๐๏ธ Dates: On view now through Jan. 5, 2025
๐ Location: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
17. Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms
Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms are turning heads from San Francisco to New York, and we’re lucky to have two of them available to visit for free right here in LA.
- Infinity Mirrored RoomโThe Souls of Millions of Light Years Away: An enclosed mirror-lined space filled with flashing LED lights that visitors physically step into. Since guests enter the space one group at a time, The Broad requires that you make a timed reservation to foster the best possible experience. Find it on the first floor of The Broad.
- Longing for Eternity:ย A mirrored chamber filled with pulsating neon lights that guests peer into one by one. There’s no need to make a reservation for this, so just join the line on the third floor.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Free to visit, but a reservation is required for Infinity Mirrored RoomโThe Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.
๐๏ธ Dates: Ongoing
๐ Location: The Broad, 221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles
18. Leonardo da Vinci: Inventor. Artist Dreamer.
Discover 30 innovative inventions drawn from Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, brought to life by contemporary Italian artisans and displayed in a stunning presentation at the California Science Center. The exciting LA exhibit features famous contraptions including the Flying Bicycle, Mechanical Bat, Great Kite, the Helical Air Screw, and the 33-foot-wide Mechanical Eagle. Over a dozen of the presented models are built at full scale, and many of the works are presented alongside an interactive activity where you can test your engineering skills.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Leonardo da Vinci: Inventor. Artist. Dreamer.
๐๏ธ Dates: Ongoing
๐ Location: California Science Center, 700 Exposition Park Dr., Los Angeles
19. Expansive Presentation of Andy Warhol
The Broad presents a showcase of work by legendary American artist Andy Warhol, who is best known as a leading influence in the pop art genre. This installation takes the viewer through 26 of Warhol’s works, eleven of which are on view for the first time at The Broad. The major artwork to seek out is Liz [Early Colored Liz], which is a silkscreened image of Elizabeth Taylor from 1963. Other items on display include Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup Can (Clam Chowder – Manhattan Style) [Ferus Type] and 40 Gold Marilyns.
๐๏ธ Tickets: Expansive Presentation of Andy Warhol is free to visit
๐๏ธ Dates: Ongoing
๐ Location: The Broad, 221 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles