😢Getty Museum likely destroyed by fire

[PaintBoss]

It’s 9 PM Eastern time and I’ve turned on the news and apparently they are having terrible fires in a very wealthy area of LA. High winds. Just a little earlier, they reported there was fire already on the grounds of the Getty museum as they were evacuating people. An emergency official say the worst is going to come later through the night. They are very worried they’re going to lose the museum and the art collections if it isn’t gone already. I don’t know if they take some sort of precautions by building some sort of fire safe vault for the collections that are not on show. But I hope so. I took a quick look at their collections and it would indeed be a great loss. From the earliest art to classical times all the way up to modern.
I always worry about people and animals in fires, but after that, it seems my heart lurches most when we lose our art or architecture. The irreplaceable stuff.
I guess in a day or two we will find out more.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection

Explore the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center and the Getty Villa.

www.getty.edu

 

[Marc]

They have Van Gogh's Irises. I'll feel that loss to my last days if that's lost.

 

[PaintBoss]

 

[txomsy]

Collections are said to be safe.

 

[PaintBoss]

Wow, thank goodness. The pictures last night were not good.

Getty Villa Museum in Los Angeles Impacted by Wildfires

The staff and collection remain safe.

www.townandcountrymag.com

 

[Terri]

Yes, I read last night that the museum had collections safeguarded. Complete professionals at this: they must have underground vaults with firewalls we can't even imagine.

It's a devastating fire. Thousands of homes and businesses destroyed. People will be displaced for months, if not forever. What a tragedy.

 

[PaintBoss]

I so agree Terri. A nightmare. Looks like most of them got out. I was very worried when they were all traffic jammed on the one or two roads down.

 

[Donna T]

I was hoping there are fire-proof vaults. Those poor people and pets ... just awful.

 

[Marc]

I so agree Terri. A nightmare. Looks like most of them got out. I was very worried when they were all traffic jammed on the one or two roads down.

I read a comment under a news report that a bulldozer was pushing all the abandoned cars off their road.

 

[PaintBoss]

Yes and that was early on yesterday evening before they were gonna have worse conditions. I saw flames right up to the building on the cliff. But apparently it’s OK. They have a replica Roman Villa there. I would love to see and I really hope it’s OK.

 

[pcj]

Personally, I care about the 5 people who have now died
and the hundreds of animals who have probably died and the 1000 + homes
and other buildings that have burned to the ground.
I don't give a damn about Van Goghs Irises or a fake
Roman villa.

Patricia

 

[Bongo]

Personally, I care about the 5 people who have now died
and the hundreds of animals who have probably died and the 1000 + homes
and other buildings that have burned to the ground.
I don't give a damn about Van Goghs Irises or a fake
Roman villa.

Patricia

not a zero-sum fire. You can care about animals, people, buildings and art too.

 

[txomsy]

I do also worry about all the other losses.

When Alexandria fell, it wasn't only the Library, lots of people and goods were destroyed as well.

Yet, the burning of the Library together with that of most cultural heritage at the fall of the Roman Empire took our ancestors into the Dark Ages.

I do also worry (in addition to the people and goods of Alexandria and the Roman Empire) about the millions who died in the Middle Ages, and in the Modern Era from the Inquisition, and in Witches Hunts, and so on (until today) due to the loss of culture, the rise of ignorance and subsequent intolerance (see thread on Sally Mann for example).

One would do well to remember that not everything is the here and now. What we leave back for our descendants is arguably even more important than our personal lives. That's why parents are willing to die for their children and why people willingly fight wars (which are also terrible, but they hope will prevent greater harm later --whether that is ever the case I won't discuss).