The Broad Art Museum’s exterior is an unusual lattice-like facade that floats around the outside walls of a rectangular building.
The Broad Museum on Grand Ave. (downtown) is a contemporary art museum founded by philanthropists Eli Broad and his wife Edythe, to exhibit their personal collection of modern (post-war) and contemporary art. The very unusual building was designed by the NYC architectural firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with the Denver based Architectural firm, Gensler. The museum presents an active program of rotating temporary exhibits, innovative audience engagement events and is home to more than 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide.
A corner view of the museum on Grand Ave.
The lattice-like facade floats away from a plain rectangular building underneath.
The Broad Art Museum is located on Grand Avenue next to Frank Gehry’s famous design for the Disney Performing Arts Complex, in downtown Los Angeles.
The Broad’s 120,000-square-foot building features two floors of gallery space and is the headquarters for The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library, which has been loaning the collection to museums around the world since 1984. The museum opened in September of 2015 and has welcomed more than 2 million visitors to date.
EDITOR’S NOTE: General Admission is still FREE!
The ground floor has an organic and flowing concrete interior. (photo courtesy of the museum.)
The first floor has a glass wall looking out onto the sidewalk and street. Across Grand Avenue is Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art known as LA MoCA.
The escalator up to the 2nd-floor exhibition space is like entering a womb.
Artist Christopher Wool, United States, b. 1955, “Why?”, c.1990, Enamel on aluminum.
Artist Jeff Koons, United States, b. 1955, “Balloon Dog” (Blue), c. 1994-2000, Mirror-polished stainless steel with a transparent color coating.
Artist Jeff Koons, United States, b. 1955, “Rabbit”, c. 1986, Mirror-polished Stainless Steel.
Artist Jeff Koons, United States, b. 1955, “Michael Jackson and Bubbles”, c. 1988, Porcelain.
Artist Kara Walker, United States, 1969, “African’t”, c. 1996, laser cut metal
Artist Kara Walker, United States, 1969, “detail”, c. 1996, laser cut metal
Artist Mark Tabsey, United States, 1949, Forward Retreat, c. 1986, Oil on canvas.
Artist Robert Therrien, “Under the Table”, c. 1994, Wood & hardware
Artist Robert Therrien, “Under the Table”, detail.
Artist Robert Longo, United States 1953, Untitled (Men in the Cities: Ellen), Charcoal and Graphite on paper.
Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, United States, 1960-1988, “With Strings Two”, c 1983, Acrylic and oil stick on canvas.
Artist Imi Knoebel, Germany, 1940, “vivismus” c. 1987, Acrylic on plywood and wood stretchers. (side view)
Artist Imi Knoebel, Germany, 1940, “vivismus” c. 1987, Acrylic on plywood and wood stretchers. (front view)
Artist Jeff Koons, b. 1955, “Tulips”, c. 1994-2000, Mirror-polished stainless steel with a transparent color coating.
Artist Yayoi Kusama, b. 1929, “Infinity Mirrored Room – The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away”, c. 2013
The Broad Museum collection is quite deep and the museum will change out the exhibition hall, as often as possible, to keep the museum experience fresh, they will also bring in traveling exhibitions from other collections.
Eli and Edythe Broad in the 2nd-floor main gallery of their museum.
(Source: Most photos were taken by ARTS & FOOD staff with permission of the museum – the photo of Eli and Edythe Broad and a few other photos were supplied by the Broad museum.)
For more creative and sensentional posts visit our art blog category!
