December 2026
The Getty opens Paul R. Williams's archive on the 15th, and the Norton Simon shows the Manet Execution of Maximilian that Degas pieced back together from fragments. The Horror Show runs at the Academy Museum; Huguette Caland's first US retrospective fills the Hammer. After a winter rain, the Getty's hilltop sees clear to the ocean.
Getty CenterOpens 15 December
The archive of Paul R. Williams, the first Black architect licensed in the western US, in its first public showing. The title, Architecture Across the Color Line, names the barrier his career was built against.
Norton Simon MuseumUntil 1 March
Maximilian himself is down to a hand. Manet's heirs cut this canvas up and Degas reassembled the fragments, so the gaps in London's version of the execution are part of the story, with the Getty Research Institute archive alongside.
Academy Museum of Motion PicturesUntil 25 July
Bela Lugosi's Dracula cape, Hannibal Lecter's straitjacket and a life-size Xenomorph, among nearly 400 objects from about 200 films in six themed chambers. Gizmodo calls the Slasher house "the big one"; Fangoria praises its "love and respect" for horror.
Hammer MuseumFree
Caland's dresses Foule (1970) and Miroir (1974) hang among about 150 works in her first US retrospective, next to ten caftans she designed for Pierre Cardin.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)Until 14 March
Barbie's Dream House, Kohler's 1933 Integra toilet and the 1959 RCA Whirlpool Miracle Kitchen, around 200 objects shown with the sales pitches that sold them. The LA Times found that pairing the most illuminating part, if crowded.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)Free
A live stream from a coral reef off Port Antonio, Jamaica, runs in the gallery, made for the first Schmidt Prize. Beside it: Midnight Zone, a 56-minute film loop in its US premiere, and a rotating Fresnel lens.
The BroadFree
It opens on Guadalupe Rosales's 1992 Los Angeles Times front page behind a two-way mirror. Fourteen artists, including Hank Willis Thomas and Mickalene Thomas, with more than a dozen works shown for the first time.
Skirball Cultural CenterUntil 28 February
An unslabbed Action Comics #1 and Captain America Comics #1 share the rooms with working pages from Maus and original Love and Rockets art, drawn from more than 40 lenders. Time Out gave it four stars.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical GardensUntil 1 March
The 4,876-tile mural Doyle Lane made for Mutual Savings in 1964 is installed in the Banta courtyard, with more than 100 of his weed pots and "clay paintings" inside. Art and Cake's critic admitted wanting to lick the pots.
Marciano Art FoundationFree
Eleven silent minutes of vertical 35mm film on a 31-foot screen, first shown in Tate's Turbine Hall in 2011. Time Out called it "a triumphant touting of film's resurgence."
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Twelve benches by the L.A. sign painter line the Kendall Concourse, drawing on rotulismo mexicano, the tradition of Mexican hand-painted signage.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Dancing skeletons and personifications of Death in prints from the Renaissance to German Expressionists reckoning with war and revolution. BCAM, Level 3.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Picasso's lovers, friends, rivals and himself, portrayed in every idiom from fractured Cubism to his expressive late style. BCAM, Level 3.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Seasonal open-air pavilion where visitors walk among hundreds of orb-weaving spiders, plus tarantula and wolf spider habitats.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
A year-long artwork for your mobile browser: 96 plastic sandals and shoes collected from beaches worldwide, photoscanned into gaussian splats.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Marking 250 years of the United States with American-made vehicles spanning early 1900s classics to modern hypercars.
Getty CenterFree
Five photographers (Laura Aguilar, Reynaldo Rivera, George Rodriguez, Patssi Valdez and Ricardo Valverde) whose work expanded depictions of Chicano/a communities in Los Angeles in the late 20th century.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Black-and-white portraits by Venezuelan artist Alexander Apóstol cast the archetypal roles of Latin American populist and authoritarian political theatre.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
LACMA's own Impressionist holdings set among the prints, photography, decorative arts and fashion of late-19th-century France. Resnick Pavilion.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Five decades of the L.A. artist's provocative photography and video, blurring fact and fiction to probe romance, rivalry and the mystery of daily life. BCAM, Level 2.
Getty CenterFree
Works by 13 photographers including the Álvarez Bravos, Héctor García and Graciela Iturbide, drawn from a 25-year gift to the Getty tracing a century of Mexican photographic creativity.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Five years of major purchases and gifts, from Julie Mehretu and Henry Taylor to Suzanne Jackson and Charles Gaines, grouped by theme across the galleries.
Hammer MuseumFree
Chicago artist Mike Cloud's large-scale collaged portraits and mixed-media assemblages exploring consumer culture and childhood.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Screenwriting as an art form, through scenes from Double Indemnity, The Long Goodbye and Pulp Fiction and how each reworks film noir conventions.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
After-dark walk-through with glowing installations, projections and artwork by LA artist Maggie West across the museum's indoor and outdoor spaces.
Getty CenterFree
Northern European paintings and illuminated manuscripts c. 1500 show the Holy Family as a loving trio in a domestic interior, centred on Getty's newly acquired Gerard David.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, diverse perspectives on nature, nation, and the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles CountyFree
A reproduction of a hand-edited draft of the Declaration of Independence, paired with artifacts from 250 years of American civil rights history.
Hammer MuseumFree
An installation using electroforming to grow copper over plants and cables, exploring electricity as a form of interconnectedness.
Petersen Automotive Museum
A case study in off-road motorsport: champion rally, desert, dirt-track and motocross machines, each once the pinnacle of engineering in its discipline.
Fowler Museum at UCLAFree
Carved guardians, ritual bowls, textiles and video reveal how the Ifugao people's rice terraces entwine sustenance and spirituality.
Wende MuseumFree
Photographs from Argentine newspapers La Razón and Clarín trace four decades of political life, from Perón through coups and rallies to the return of democracy.
Autry Museum of the American West
Historical and contemporary objects, media and art examine how diverse Angelenos have claimed and contested life, liberty and happiness across two centuries of LA history.
Hammer MuseumFree
The Brazilian artist's U.S. institutional debut, centered on her film documenting rural life, reggae and African diasporic memory in Maranhão.
Norton Simon Museum
Bronze, silver and ivory art from Kandy, Sri Lanka's last royal capital before British colonial rule, blending Buddhist devotion and royal patronage.
Museum of Latin American Art
About 40 women artists from 20 countries explore the colour red through abstraction and figuration, drawn from the MIA Art Collection.
GRAMMY Museum L.A. LIVE
Stage-worn outfits from the SOUR and GUTS tours, the dresses from the newest album's cover art, and items from the Daisy Chain Fields festival.
GRAMMY Museum L.A. LIVE
Handmade sets, props, and original artwork from the "the cure" music video, including her nurse costume and hospital props.
Marciano Art FoundationFree
Two-part show on Leguillon's collecting practice: 250-plus ads of artists as brand ambassadors, plus his traveling Museum of Mistakes.
Marciano Art FoundationFree
The US premiere of Dean's 2011 vertical 35mm installation, an 11-minute silent celebration of analog photochemical film.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Over 112 years of Aston Martin excellence, from racing heritage to modern hypercars, including the DB5 of James Bond fame.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Examines how Marilyn Monroe shaped her own public image within the classical studio system, with rare artifacts and screen-worn costumes from Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Hammer MuseumFree
A retrospective of over 60 works from the Jamaican-born artist's 50-year career in geometric abstraction, including her Broken Construction series.
Getty CenterFree
New paintings by the Los Angeles artist answering the violence and theatricality of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi works in Getty's collection.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesFree
Six-decade retrospective of ~50 rarely seen works by LA artist Carl Cheng, exploring environmental change and technology at the intersection of ecology and identity.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesFree
Yokoyama's first institutional solo show: ceramic sculpture, experimental animation and holography exploring metamorphosis and underworld mythologies.
Hammer MuseumFree
A retrospective of about 150 works by the Lebanese artist, spanning 1970-2011, exploring humor, language, gender and the body.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los AngelesFree
Commissioned mural on ICA LA's 7th Street facade: silhouetted bodies in nature drawn from queer archives, topographic maps and community photography.
Skirball Cultural Center
Original comic art and rare artifacts trace how comic books shaped 20th-century American identity, from WWII through hip-hop and civil rights movements.
Norton Simon Museum
Manet's ambitious, near-life-sized painting of the 1867 firing-squad execution of Emperor Maximilian, on loan from the National Gallery, London.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Photographs by Laura Aguilar made 1984-1992 documenting Dia de los Muertos celebrations in Los Angeles, drawn from her estate.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
First major museum retrospective on Los Angeles ceramic artist Doyle Lane (1923-2002).
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Four decades of Reiko Sudō's innovative textiles for NUNO, merging tradition with experimentation and handicraft with technology. Resnick Pavilion.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Nearly 200 rare early American motorcycles from Professor Richard Bunch's collection, spanning the pioneer era through the Great Depression.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Two kitchens from LACMA's collection in conversation: Schütte-Lihotzky's 1926–30 Frankfurt kitchen and Perriand and Le Corbusier's 1948–50 Marseille kitchen. Resnick Pavilion.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
Models, drawings, films and objects from sinks to TV sets trace how the American home of tomorrow was imagined and sold, and who was left out. Resnick Pavilion.
Getty CenterFree
Reunites Wright of Derby's 1760s candlelit pictures, including Getty's rediscovered Two Boys with a Bladder, and explores the technique behind them.
Getty CenterFree
Portraits by Gainsborough, Goya and David centred on the US debut of Reynolds's Portrait of Mai, the first Polynesian visitor to Great Britain.
Getty CenterFree
Traces the four hand-crafted stages of a medieval book (preparing parchment, writing, painting and binding) through manuscripts from the Museum's collection.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Celebrates Studio Ghiblis 2008 film Ponyo through over 100 rare hand-drawn animation artworks, including original art by Hayao Miyazaki, many shown in North America for the first time.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Screen-used vehicles and production prototypes marking 25 years of the Fast & Furious franchise's most iconic builds.
The BroadFree
Collection show on how media shapes history and memory, with Guadalupe Rosales, Hank Willis Thomas, Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, Warhol and Mickalene Thomas.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles CountyFree
Rare, spectacular mineral and crystal specimens, some displayed publicly for the first time.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Daimler-Benz merger with a broad range of Mercedes-Benz models spanning the marque's engineering history.
Chinese American Museum
The museum's inaugural show in its newly expanded gallery: seven decades of Diana Shuiu Wong's abstract works blending traditional Chinese and contemporary Western aesthetics.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Life-size orca replicas and Indigenous Pacific Northwest Coast art explore the bond between orcas, people, and the ocean.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Sandy Rodriguez's largest installation to date, including a 20-foot map of the United States painted on hand-processed amate-fiber paper.
Craft Contemporary
Nine artists from the California Community Foundation Fellowship use fire as a lens on cultural perseverance, identity and ancestral memory.
Craft Contemporary
Indigenous artist collective's residency 'Fuego Medicinal' on fire, natural dyes, textiles and California native-plant craft traditions.
Craft Contemporary
Colombian artist's first LA solo show, juxtaposing colonial bronze casting with Indigenous weaving to examine the conquest of the Americas.
Fowler Museum at UCLAFree
Contemporary Whakatōhea weavers respond to an ancestral kaitaka (cloak) from the Fowler's collection, bringing ancient and modern Māori art into dialogue.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
A two-story immersive installation exploring six aesthetic themes of cinematic light and color -- sunrise/sunset, moon, neon, candlelight, fireworks, and campfire -- via synchronized projections and an original score.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
A new Schmidt Prize commission by Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña: a collaborative 'quipu of encounters' on the water crisis, linking communities in Chile and LA.
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
Immersive environments by Julian Charrière on water systems and planetary fragility, including a new commission for the inaugural Schmidt Environment and Art Prize.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Photographer, filmmaker and Pikes Peak racer Jeff Zwart's four-decade life with Porsche, told through his images, films and historic cars in The Vault.
Fowler Museum at UCLAFree
Three South Asian artists (Suchitra Mattai, Jagdeep Raina, Swapnaa Tamhane) use textiles as counter-monuments memorializing overlooked communities.
Autry Museum of the American West
Works from the Autry's Native American collections explore Knowing, Creating and Transference, curated in part by three contemporary Plains Indian artists reflecting on their traditions.
Petersen Automotive Museum
LA artist Joshua Vides hand-paints black outlines onto real cars in a mechanic's garage scene, flattening them into what looks like a 2D sketch.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Immersive exhibition on horror cinemas cultural impact, with props and costumes from Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and more, across six themed chambers.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Family-friendly look at how filmmakers create movie zombies, set in a playful pretend cemetery with an interactive animatronic puppet by Spectral Motion.
Petersen Automotive Museum
A chronological timeline of record-setting automobiles from the postwar era to today, tracing how aerodynamics and powertrain design chased raw speed.
Wende MuseumFree
Co-curated with a NASA historian, this show pairs Cold War-era and contemporary artworks with artifacts like a full-scale Sputnik-1 model on the Space Race and cosmos in art.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Over 100 objects from the Oscar-winning director's films, including storyboards, concept art, creature models, props and on-set photographs.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Betye Saar's Huntington-commissioned site-specific installation: a 17-foot vintage wooden canoe with found objects including birdcages and antlers.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Explores the design dialogue between American automakers and Italian coachbuilders, pairing American mechanical strength with European styling.
Petersen Automotive Museum
Traces Waymo's evolution from Google's self-driving car project to a leading autonomous vehicle company, showing the tech turning sci-fi into reality.
California Science CenterFree
17,000-sq-ft exhibition with 25+ interactive activities exploring the science of sports and movement, featuring LA-based mentor athletes; on view through the 2028 Olympics.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Tongva artist Mercedes Dorame's commissioned installation on Southern California's freshwater springs: photographs, painting, sculpture, ceramics and a Tongva-poetry soundscape.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Outdoor sculpture in the Stroll Garden of charred Sierra Nevada timber and glazed ceramic teardrops, on forest destruction and regrowth.
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.
