The Getty Villa, the original site of the J. Paul Getty Museum, is a museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. The design is based on the Villa dei Papiri, a 1st century Roman estate in Herculaneum, Italy, which was partially excavated in the 18th century. It is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to ancient art. It underwent a major renovation project and reopened in 2006.
MOCA
Founded in 1979, the Museum of Contemporary Art is devoted to, as the name implies, post-World War II art. In 1984, the museum purchased the Panza Collection (from the Count and Countess Giuseppe Panza di Biumo), which encompassed major works of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The museum's collection now numbers over 5,000 works and is steadily growing. Today the museum is housed in three facilities: MOCA Grand Avenue, The Geffen Contemporary, and the Pacific Design Center.
LACMA
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is the largest art museum in the western United States, and contains over 100,000 objects dating from ancient times to the present. The museum's collections encompass the geographic world and virtually the entire history of art. Among the museum’s special strengths are its holdings of Asian art, housed in part in the Bruce Goff-designed Pavilion for Japanese Art; Latin American art, ranging from pre-Columbian masterpieces to works by leading modern and contemporary artists including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and José Clemente Orozco; and Islamic art, of which LACMA hosts one of the most significant collections in the world.
The Bowers Museum
Santa Ana's Bowers Museum holds in its collection more than 130,000 works of art, with strengths including Native American art and Asian art. Students will receive guided tours of select current exhibitions, including Ancient Arts of China and The Gold of Troy. Students will also attend a discussion on the art and architecture of the Acropolis in ancient Greece.
The Norton Simon Museum is located on the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards in Pasadena--the corner where the Rose Parade turns. Named for industrialist Norton Simon, it is home to one of the most remarkable and important collections assembled by a 20th century private collector.