Written by Ressa Gallardo
When it comes to Los Angeles, you can always find a reason to snap a photo. The city is filled with vibrant places and excellent eateries that would take years for a person to visit everything the city has to offer. Yet, among the trendy malls and restaurants, a refreshing eye opener for me was discovering the beautiful artwork within the city. During my birthday trip to Los Angeles, I was lucky enough to take a visit at one of the most popular museums in LA: The Broad Museum. Since it opened in 2015, it has been known as one of the most famous contemporary museums in California. With all the beautiful galleries, it’s inevitable to see a post about it while you scroll on Instagram. When I took a personal visit to The Broad, I realized why this place is an iconic spot to post on social media.
When you visit The Broad Museum, you’ll quickly realize the one of a kind architecture. When Diller Scofidio + Renfro were designing the building in 2010, they thought of creating a “honeycomb” exterior that would intentionally contrast to its neighboring building: The Walt Disney Hall. The interesting part of the architecture was how the building was designed to conserve electricity. The hundred of panels, or “holes”,” of the museum’s exterior design easily transmit sunlight in addition to the rooftop having sunlight monitors to provide electricity indoors. Because of this, the museum is able to practice eco-friendly alternatives for lighting during the museum’s opening hours. The exterior design of The Broad is considerably an art installation itself as it reflects the contemporary artwork showcased inside. The beautiful design of The Broad is undeniably modern, unique, and environmentally friendly.
One thing to consider when visiting The Broad is to make sure you reserve advance tickets for a specific time slot. Due to the art collections being displayed throughout the museum, only a certain amount of guests are allowed to enter inside. When you enter inside the museum, the first floor contains the largest, popular art installments of The Broad, such as Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room. In the Infinity Mirrored Room, it contains an artistic experience where you step inside a galaxy filled with twinkling stars. Many art rooms like Kusama’s require a waiting line due to the limited space inside the art rooms. However, many guests would agree that the line is worth the experience. After viewing the art room installments in the first floor, taking the escalators upstairs to the second floor showcases all the open art galleries that you can walk through and take photos.
It is noted from the museum that The Broad contains over 2,000 contemporary and postwar artworks. If the art pieces were divided evenly in each floor, that means that a guest would view over 650 pieces! In the second floor, many would agree that some of the most popular contemporary artists are showcased, like Andy Warhol, Jeff Koon, and Robert Therrien. Artworks such as Balloon Dog, Under the Table, and Campbell Soups are also inside the exhibits. With the endless amount of artwork contained in this area of the museum, the multiple pathways could take a few hours if you were to take photos and read about each art piece. The museum encourages people to take photos of the art pieces, but it is important to note that you should not touch the artwork. As you walk throughout the museum, you will find that many people actively snap photos in the museum as they walk through the art galleries. With good reason, the art collections in the second floor contain pieces that are cheery, animated, and colorful.
If you wanted to see more avant-garde pieces, the third floor has a great variety of eclectic artworks. Artworks, such as Bruce Nauman‘s Ten Heads Circle/Up and Down, Meyer Vaisman‘s Untitled Turkey XIV, and Tony Oursler‘s Dust, are few of the many eccentric pieces showcased in this floor. Unlike the second floor, the art collections in the third floor contain eerie, dark, and controversial pieces. Some of the controversial pieces bring light to world history, like World War II, African slavery, and medieval times. The art collections purposely evoke a shock or strange reaction in order for guests to challenge their own personal perspectives of certain topics. This brings a lot of value to The Broad since it broadens people’s mindsets on contemporary art today.
The Broad Museum has so much to offer in Los Angeles. The amazing diversity in artists and artworks showcased in this museum is a huge reason why it is considerably the most popular contemporary museum in the city. Not only was The Broad was an enlightening experience that brings me great memories, it was a great way to support the arts. If you’re ever in the city, this museum is worth the visit.