Virtually explore The Getty with Smarthistory as your guide
Some background
videos + essays
Laudario of Sant’Agnese
The Laudario of Sant'Agnese is one of the most important examples of early Renaissance illumination and it was decorated by two of the most sought-after workshops at the time.
The Challenge of a Straight Line – the Concrete Art Movement
How do you create perfectly straight edges in paint? See how Brazilian and Argentinian Concrete Artists did in this video from the Getty Museum
Painting in an Industrial Age – the Concrete Art Movement
From the Getty Museum, discover how Brazilian Concrete Artists engaged with a rapidly industrializing culture by using the entire range of industrial paints developed in the 20th century
Breaking the Frame – the Concrete Art Movement
Discover how Argentine and Brazilian artists in the 1940s broke from linear perspective to create art in unique shapes, starting the Concrete Art movement.
Different Places: Japanese porcelain with English gilt-bronze mounts
A pair of lidded bowls in the J. Paul Getty Museum have had quite an exciting existence.
James Ensor, Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889
The painting mocks humanity, as well as human beliefs and institutions, both civic and religious.
Ansel Adams: Visualizing a Photograph
Straight from the horse’s mouth: the process of making a photograph, in the artist’s own words.
Fernand Khnopff, Jeanne Kéfer
This straightforward painting nevertheless shows its Symbolist sympathies through the eyes of a young girl.
Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage
Though this photograph could be seen as a searing social commentary, its maker preferred to view it as fine art.
Timothy O’Sullivan, Ancient Ruins in the Cañon de Chelle
A stunning look at an important Navajo monument reminds us that we’re basically specks in a vast universe.
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