LACMA opens new galleries with eclectic collection

LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries are open, and the change is bigger than a routine museum expansion. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has moved its permanent collection into a new building designed by Peter Zumthor that stretches across Wilshire Boulevard and recasts how the museum wants visitors to encounter art. (lacma.org) The core shift is curatorial as much as architectural. Instead of organizing the collection through a standard chronological or regional sequence, LACMA says the inaugural installation uses the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea as a framework for connecting works across time and place. (lacma.org) (unframed.lacma.org) Here’s the thread to understand what opened, what’s actually inside, and what visitors should expect now. ### What exactly opened at LACMA? The David Geffen Galleries are LACMA’s new home for its permanent collection, and the museum said the building opened on April 19, 2026, after years of planning and construction. (lacma.org) The structure was designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and serves as the centerpiece of LACMA’s remade campus. LACMA describes the building as a single elevated gallery floor made of architectural concrete and glass. The museum says the structure creates 3.5 acres of shaded public space below while giving visitors access to indoor and outdoor gallery areas above. (lacma.org 1) (lacma.org 2) ### Why are people calling the collection “eclectic”? LACMA says the new galleries show its permanent collection across 6,000 years of art from around the world. In the museum’s own description, visitors move through more than 80 presentations containing thousands of objects. (lacma.org) That produces the eclectic effect local coverage pointed to. LACMA says visitors may see a 17th-century Dutch painting beside 20th-century photography, or African textiles near American quilts, because the new layout is meant to create “unexpected visual and thematic connections” rather than keep media, eras or geographies in separate silos. (unframed.lacma.org) ### How is the new installation organized? The inaugural display is organized around bodies of water, not a straight historical timeline. LACMA says the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea anchor the building’s first installation and shape how works are grouped. (unframed.lacma.org) The museum says the approach is intended to show exchange across cultures and regions. Visitors entering from either side encounter works from the Ancient Americas early in the route, then move through what LACMA calls a “nonhierarchical layout” that connects objects across time and geography. (unframed.lacma.org) ### What kinds of works are on view right now? LACMA’s current programming around the building shows how broad the presentation is. The museum is offering tours focused on Mediterranean galleries, sculpture in the David Geffen Galleries, women artists in the collection, and “Contemporary Works in Context.” (lacma.org) Those tour listings indicate the range visitors can expect: historical material, sculpture, contemporary works and cross-period installations rather than a single medium or era. LACMA’s homepage also shows the museum pairing the new galleries with other current shows including *Eileen Cowin: Between Panic and Paradise* and *Collecting Impressionism at LACMA*, both on view through January 3, 2027. (unframed.lacma.org) ### Is this just a building opening, or is there ongoing programming? LACMA’s events calendar shows the museum has already built regular programming around the new galleries, including docent-led gallery tours and focused tours tied to specific sections of the installation. Its talks-and-classes page says the museum’s programming includes lectures, gallery talks, virtual classes and artist conversations. (lacma.org) That means the opening is functioning as a platform, not a one-weekend event. The museum’s calendar also lists hands-on and interpretive programming tied to the new building, including a September drawing session centered on the galleries’ architecture and views. (lacma.org) ### What comes next at LACMA? LACMA’s upcoming exhibitions page lists the next wave of openings for fall 2026. *Textile Alchemy: The Art of Reiko Sudō and NUNO* opens September 20, followed by *Home of the Future, 1925–1985: Designing Domestic Utopias* and *The Kitchen and Its Discontents* on September 27, and *The Brockman Gallery: Los Angeles, 1967–1990* on October 18. (lacma.org) The museum’s current site also shows continuing David Geffen Galleries tours this week, giving visitors a direct way to see how the new installation is being interpreted in practice. (lacma.org) (lacma.org) (lacma.org)