{"id":271231,"date":"2026-02-06T20:53:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/271231\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:53:14","slug":"lacmas-new-galleries-have-an-opening-date-heres-when-you-can-visit-depending-on-whether-or-not-youre-a-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/271231\/","title":{"rendered":"LACMA\u2019s new galleries have an opening date. Here\u2019s when you can visit\u2014depending on whether or not you\u2019re a member."},"content":{"rendered":"

In the works for well over a decade and under construction since 2020, the David Geffen Galleries, a single-building replacement for LACMA\u2019s<\/a> eastern campus, will finally welcome museumgoers this spring, starting with two weeks of previews.<\/p>\n

LACMA announced on Thursday that its amoeba-shaped structure will host a ribbon-cutting celebration on April 19. That\u2019ll kick off two weeks of previews (Apr 19\u2013May 3) for members<\/a> and donors,\u00a0including a free day (May 3) for\u00a0NexGenLA, the museum\u2019s free youth membership program for L.A. County residents 17 years and younger. Finally,\u00a0access for the general public starts on May 4.\u00a0Reservations<\/a>\u00a0for all of those groups are available now; museum tickets for the general public cost $30, or $25 for county residents.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0if all goes according to plan, Metro\u2019s<\/a> D Line expansion should be operational<\/a> by the end of the winter\u2014meaning you can take the subway from Downtown L.A. or as far west as the edge of Beverly Hills to a new station just across the street,\u00a0next to the Petersen Automotive Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"David
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutView of Wilshire Boulevard from the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA <\/p>\n

On top of the preview days, the museum will hold a series of sunset receptions for members, starting with its most elite tiers on April 18 and 19; individual ($90) and dual ($150) members will receive invites for May 1 and 2. In addition, the building\u2019s architect, Peter Zumthor, will sit down for a conversation with LACMA director and CEO Michael Govan. Slated for the evening of April 22<\/a>, the talk ($10) will take place on the East West Bank Commons, a new outdoor space nestled along the northern edge of the new building.<\/p>\n

The David Geffen Galleries, a single-floor span of galleries that appears to float above Wilshire Boulevard, will also\u00a0sport various amenities on the ground floor: a restaurant, cafe, store and education center on its northern half, as well as a wine bar and theater on the south side of the street. Only the store and cafe will be available at opening, with the W.M. Keck Education Center set to debut on May 3; LACMA says the rest of the ground-floor features will open in phases.<\/p>\n

\"Tony
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutTony Smith, \u2018Smoke\u2019 <\/p>\n

As for the art, LACMA also teased some details about its inaugural installation. The museum says the 110,000-square-foot space is designed to hold between 2,500 and 3,000 objects, and it\u2019ll debut with a mix of the museum\u2019s returning favorites\u2014including Georges de La Tour\u2019s The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame\u00a0(1640), Henri Matisse\u2019s La Gerbe (1953) and Antonio de Arellano and Manuel de Arellano\u2019s Virgin of Guadalupe (Virgen de Guadalupe) (1691)\u2014as well as recent acquisitions\u2014Francis Bacon\u2019s Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969) and Vincent van Gogh\u2019s Tarascon Stagecoach\u00a0(1888)\u2014plus commissions\u00a0by Todd Gray, Lauren Halsey, Sarah Rosalena, Do Ho Suh and Diana Thater.<\/p>\n

\"David
\nPhotograph: Michael Juliano for Time OutDavid Geffen Galleries at LACMA <\/p>\n

The building has invited plenty of strong opinions over the years on its design and square footage, but\u00a0in just a couple of months we\u2019ll all be able to weigh in on what it\u2019s actually like to see art here. I was able to step inside the empty galleries<\/a> over the summer for a one-of-a-kind performance from Kamasi Washington; the elevated views were dreamy though the all-concrete-everywhere look made navigation a bit dizzying\u2014granted, that was with zero artwork on the walls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the works for well over a decade and under construction since 2020, the David Geffen Galleries, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1228,442,498,499,500,31542,501,156,111,31543,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-271231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-categories-art","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news-art","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}