Museums & Galleries

David Geffen Galleries - LACMA

Los Angeles, United States
David Geffen Galleries - LACMA

Los Angeles, United States

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A new Los Angeles landmark where architecture, city light, and 6,000 years of art come together. David Geffen Galleries at LACMA is not just a museum expansion — it is a new way of moving through art history.

The David Geffen Galleries are LACMA’s new permanent-collection building, designed by Peter Zumthor in collaboration with SOM. The building opened in April 2026 as the new home for works from LACMA’s encyclopedic collection, one of the largest and most comprehensive art collections in the western United States.

Its architecture is part of the story: a long, sculptural concrete-and-glass form that stretches across Wilshire Boulevard, creating a continuous museum experience above the city. LACMA describes the building as an organic structure with an elevated gallery floor and around 3.5 acres of shaded public space underneath.

This is where LACMA reintroduces its permanent collection with a different rhythm. Instead of moving through art history only by chronology or geography, the galleries invite visitors to find conversations across time, cultures, materials, and ideas.

Image credit

David Geffen Galleries at LACMA (Image credit: Iwan Baan)

What you’ll see here

You may experience:

  • Art spanning around 6,000 years
  • Works from across LACMA’s global collection
  • Modern and contemporary art in dialogue with ancient and historical objects
  • A building filled with natural light, long views, and cinematic transitions
  • Architecture that connects museum, street, park, and city

The best way to enjoy it is to give yourself time. Don’t visit it like a checklist. Start with the architecture: the curve, the glass, the views toward Los Angeles, the sensation of walking above Wilshire. Then let the collection unfold more like a journey than a textbook.

Worth the trip

Yes — especially for architecture lovers and anyone interested in the future of museums.

What makes the David Geffen Galleries special is that they are not only a new wing, but a statement: LACMA is trying to rethink how a major encyclopedic museum can feel in the 21st century — less hierarchical, more fluid, more connected to place.

For Artlovers, this is worth the trip because it turns a museum visit into a Los Angeles experience: art, light, traffic, architecture, public space, and cultural ambition all in one place.

ArtLovers Tip

Pause at the windows. In this building, Los Angeles is not outside the museum — it becomes part of the exhibition.

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