Guests of Big Oil

Using his enormous profits from the petroleum industry, Mr. J. Paul Getty seems to have purchased every available piece of art and made it part of his collection. He then, magnanimously, allowed the world to come and see it at no charge. (As befits a Los Angeles attraction, though, it's free for people, but cars need a reservation and $8 for parking.)


The Getty Villa, which is not to be confused with the Getty Center, is a recreation of the Villa dei Papiri, a private home in Herculaneum buried by the Vesuvius eruption. As such, it is a fitting site for the Getty Trust's collection of ancient art and artifacts. It formerly housed the Trust's entire art collection, but in 1997 all of the western art was moved to the Getty Center, leaving the ancient Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Minoan, Cycladic, etc. behind in Malibu.

One questions the wisdom in building a replica of a house destroyed by a natural disaster in Malibu. Isn't that just tempting fate?

Regardless of the risks, because, frankly, they hadn't occurred to me until now, we took Tessie to view Mr. Getty's ancient art collection. Our first stop on arrival was the "Family Forum," a children's play area with dress-up foam shield and helmets, vases to scribble on with dry-erase markers, and crayons to make rubbings.

We walked the galleries and gardens, saw the current Piranesi exhibit, ate in the cafe, and stood idly by while Tessie entertained the other visitors by splashing around in the fountain. She needed a change of clothes after that, but she seemed to have lots of fun.