The Getty Center Has Four Months Left Before Closing for a Year

The Getty says the Center closes March 15, 2027, and reopens in spring 2028. The Getty Villa stays open throughout.

The Getty Center has about four months left before its galleries go dark for a year.

The museum closes to the public March 15, 2027, and plans to reopen in spring 2028, according to the Getty's April announcement published by Spectrum News. ABC7 reported that the Getty considers it the most significant modernization the campus has had since its 1997 opening. So far the reopening date is a season, not a day.

Katherine Fleming, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, didn't dress it up. "You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs," she told ABC7, adding that the only way to take on the work is for the Getty to shut down while it's done.

The list of what's coming back is long. The Getty says it'll upgrade its tram system, redesign how visitors arrive and leave, and renovate the Welcome Hall with a new cafe, bookstore and shop. The galleries are getting reworked and new artist commissions are planned. Even cell service and Wi-Fi made the list.

Fleming told ABC7 the gallery work is mostly about flow. She wants rooms without bottlenecks, and no objects tucked into dead-end corners where visitors can't reach them.

The timing isn't subtle either. In its statement, the Getty said it wants to welcome visitors back in time for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, a showcase for a renovated campus the Getty describes as more accessible and more resilient.

In the meantime there's still one Getty to visit. ABC7 reported that the Getty Villa stays open during the closure, and the Getty says it'll add more ways to see art and nature there. As of September, both campuses charged the same $25 to park.

Not everyone took the news well. Anna Cho, visiting from South Korea, told ABC7 the closure "would be sad for the people visiting in 2027." Fleming's answer is a promise: "We hope everyone thinks it looks fabulous when it comes back."

Source: secretlosangeles.com, retrieved November 12, 2026. Other sources: spectrumnews1.com, abc7.com.