The Getty Center in Los Angeles has announced that it will temporarily close for renovation on March 15, 2027. According to the press release, the project will include “the most significant series of modernization initiatives since its 1997 opening.” The museum plans to reopen in spring 2028, just before Los Angeles welcomes the 2028 summer Olympics.
“In the coming years, guided by our commitment to All for Art, we will enhance the visitor experience across the Getty Center campus through reimagined spaces and new offerings, while prioritizing sustainability,” said Katherine E. Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust.
As part of the renovations, the Getty Center will introduce a series of yet-to-be-announced artist commissions, alongside the museum’s revitalized gallery spaces. Meanwhile, the museum will modernize its welcome hall with a new bookstore and retail shop. “This new space will allow us to pursue some new types of activities, possibly even more cutting-edge than our spaces here allow us to pursue,” Tim Whalen, vice president of institutional planning for the J. Paul Getty Trust, told the Los Angeles Times.
Around the campus, the museum is dedicated to increasing accessibility. This includes upgrades to the tram system and campus-wide improvements to utilities and public spaces. The institution has already begun some of these efforts, first with updates to the HVAC system, as part of the gallery’s commitment to sustainability. These changes will help the museum during an anticipated influx of visitors during the upcoming Olympic Games.
“Our mission has always been to make art accessible to our Los Angeles community and visitors from around the world,” said Fleming. “We look forward to welcoming visitors back in spring 2028, in time to celebrate the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles and experience our more accessible, resilient, and dynamic campus.”
The Getty will continue its exhibition schedule through spring 2027. Among the shows currently on view are “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985,” through June 14th, and “Virtue and Vice: Allegory in European Drawing,” through June 7th. During the renovation period, the museum will devote its full attention to the Getty Villa, a satellite museum modeled on a Roman villa. Typically, the Villa houses rare antiquities, but the Getty will present paintings in one of the galleries during this time.
