Play and Games in Ancient Greece

The ancient Greeks and Romans used games to stave off boredom, have fun, and sometimes engage in intense competition.

Paris Then and Now: Through the Lens of Eugène Atget

Wander the charming streets of turn-of-the-century Paris captured in Eugène Atget’s photographs, and discover how they look today.

The Writers of the Word: Christian Gospel Illumination in the Middle Ages

The Christian Gospels are four parallel accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Journey through illuminated manuscripts and the cultures that created them.

Joseph: A Celebrated Haitian Model in 19th-Century Paris

Let’s explore the life of a Haitian immigrant to Paris, muse to renowned painter Théodore Géricault, and one of the most famous Black models of the era.

Recent Acquisitions 2023: Collecting for the J. Paul Getty Museum

Each year the J. Paul Getty Museum adds to its holdings of European art from antiquity to 1900, and of international photography up to the present day.

Taking a Moment

Meet the 16 talented teen photographers from across Los Angeles who participated in a two-month workshop at the Getty Center through Getty Unshuttered, a teen photography program.

A Closer Look: Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida's “Pepilla and her Daughter”

Recent conservation work has breathed new life into this compelling life-sized painting of a Romani mother and daughter.

Painted Prophecy

Stories from the Hebrew Bible were among the most important subjects for the illumination of Christian manuscripts in the Middle Ages.

Irises at the Getty

Named after the mythical Greek goddess of the rainbow, the colorful iris is grown worldwide and has captured the eye of artists for many centuries.

Father Crosses the Ocean

In her own words, artist Kyungmi Shin takes us on a tour of her painted photowork, which pairs art and family memory.

Japanese-American Photographs, 1920-1940

Traditional Transfer Techniques in Western European Art

Explore techniques used during centuries to copy original works of art and follow the tutorials to try them yourself.

Leonardo at Getty

Explore Getty’s two da Vinci drawings as they give a glimpse into the mind of this celebrated Renaissance polymath.

Searching for Light in Color: Segantini's "Spring in the Alps"

Explore Giovanni Segantini’s exceptional technique and painting practice through this dazzling panorama.

Early Mexican Photography (Part I)

Early Mexican portraits have much to tell us about the upper echelons of 19th-century society and the competing social and political forces at play during a tumultuous time.

Balthazar: A Black African King in Medieval and Renaissance Art

Engraved Gems from the Ancient Persian Empire

Personal seals carved from semiprecious stones and engraved with exquisite miniature scenes were used widely within the ancient Persian Empire.

Transcending Time: The Medieval Book of Hours

Books of hours were among the most widely produced medieval manuscripts. These prayer books structured time for their readers and met the demand for private Christian devotion.

Reckoning with "Millet's Man with a Hoe"

Controversial from the moment of its 1863 debut, Jean-François Millet's "Man with a Hoe" is one of the most provocative icons of manual labor ever painted.

All That Glitters: Jewelry in the Ancient Mediterranean

Considered the oldest of the decorative arts, jewelry was part of the universal human urge to decorate the body, while also serving many additional roles.

Getty Highlights: 19th-Century Paintings

Discover the stories behind 10 of our most notable paintings.

In the Flesh: Body Fat in Ancient Art

Ancient Greek and Roman writers criticized bodies of different sizes for a variety of reasons. But in works of art, body fat was often depicted in ways that defy our expectations.

Luxury Silver of Ancient Persia

Ritual banquets - at which wine flowed freely from ornate gold and silver vessels - were a central practice among ancient Persian kings and aristocrats.

Fantasy of the Middle Ages

Reimagined by artists for centuries, explore the visual legacy of the Middle Ages, from the period itself to popular culture today.

Women Artists from Antiquity to Present

Despite facing countless obstacles in their education and honing of their talents, women artists have nevertheless created works pushing artistic boundaries throughout the ages

Layer by Layer: Studying "Woman-Ochre"

The Getty Conservation Institute's technical study of the stolen painting "Woman-Ochre" uncovers some secrets behind one of Willem de Kooning's most well-known paintings.

Julia Margaret Cameron

A pioneering photographer and savvy businesswoman who created imagery consistent with the aims of art: sacrificing nothing of the truth through a devotion to poetry and beauty.

Graphic Design in the Middle Ages

Medieval artists and scribes were among the world’s first graphic designers. Explore the innovative ways these artists worked, and how their ideas carry over into modern design.

Pride at the Getty

In honor of LGBT History Month this October, curatorial staff from across the Getty reflect on themes represented by the colors of rainbow flag through works in our collections.

Fashion in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, clothing was integral to identifying one’s place in the world.

From Fire to Wine: Ancient Greek Pottery

Radical Whimsy: Victorian Women and the Art of Photocollage

Peruse the pages of two late 19th-century photocollage albums from the Getty collection—an untitled album and the Westmorland Album—to learn about the women who made them and how and why they did so.

Early Mexican Photography (Part II)

Early Mexican portraits have much to tell us about the upper echelons of 19th-century society and the competing social and political forces at play during a tumultuous time.

The Artist’s Methods: Degas’s "Waiting"

A simple image: two women seated on a bench in a bare room. This is Degas’s "Waiting."

Investigating Herakleides: A Portrait Mummy from Roman Egypt

This mummy of a young man reflects the diverse cultural influences and extensive international trade connections in Egypt under the Roman Empire through its iconography, materials, and burial techniques.

Contemporary Voices in Asian American Photography

Six artists share insights about their experiences making photographs. Reflecting diverse approaches and motivations, their work ranges from a focus on personal narratives and recording transnational histories, to an exploration of experimental practices.

Ishiuchi Miyako: Postwar Shadows

Discover the groundbreaking work of Ishiuchi Miyako, whose photographs powerfully fuse the personal with the political. Her remarkable career has greatly impacted the history of postwar Japanese photography, and has notably influenced subsequent generations of Japanese women.

A Historic Black Rights Protest

Among the 20,000 participants at this 1850 abolitionist convention, dozens of the attendees had only recently escaped servitude. In this photograph, discover a rare glimpse of a historic call to end slavery.

Faces of Roman Egypt

A group of remarkably lifelike mummy portraits from the first through third centuries AD bring us face to face with the people who lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire.

Jeanne (Spring)

Muses in the Lab: Conserving a Roman Sarcophagus

Follow our conservation team into the lab as they prepare a fragmentary Roman sarcophagus featuring three Muses and the deceased for the Getty Villa Museum’s galleries.

Power, Justice, and Tyranny in the Middle Ages

The Getty Book of the Dead

Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts in the J. Paul Getty Museum

The Galle Chandelier

Take a close look at one of the most popular objects in the Getty’s decorative arts collection and watch it come to life.

Taking a Stroll in Renoir's "The Promenade"

"The Promenade" (“the stroll” in French) is one of the most engaging and approachable of all Impressionist paintings. Step into Pierre-Auguste Renoir's enticing depiction of a youthful couple on a romantic promenade.

Uncovering the Past of a French 18th-Century Writing Table

An Enduring Icon: Notre-Dame Cathedral

The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host

Laudario of Sant’Agnese

The Scandalous Art of James Ensor

In the 1880s, the young James Ensor was an ambitious renegade. Dive into his subversive and eccentric world through the painting "Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889."

China on Tapestry

Explore this magnificent tapestry from "The Story of the Emperor of China," part of a set commissioned and woven in France in the late 1600s. Hanging nearly 14 feet tall, weavers worked by hand for nine years to create the group of ten large textiles.

Assyria: Palace Art of Ancient Iraq

The British Museum is home to the largest collection of ancient Assyrian reliefs in the world, 13 of which are on loan to the Getty Museum through 2022. Together they illuminate the richly decorative art found in Assyria’s palaces from the ninth through seventh centuries BC.

The Borghese-Windsor Cabinet

Explore this magnificent display furniture owned by some of Europe’s most important rulers, with its colorful hard stones, statuettes and ornaments in gilded silver and bronze, and many secret drawers.

The Art of Three Faiths: Torah, Bible, Qur'an

Fantastic Beasts of the Middle Ages

Many of the imaginary beasts that populate the modern imagination—like unicorns, dragons, and griffins—appear in medieval manuscript illumination.

Pastels in Pieces

Artists on the Move

Director's Choice: Getty Museum Acquisitions 2019

Eighteenth-Century Pastel Portraits

Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well

Images of Death in the Middle Ages

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance