It may have begun as one couple’s small collection of postwar and contemporary art, but The Broad is now a treasure trove of more than 2,000 pieces, housed in an architectural stunner in downtown Los Angeles.
Eli and Edythe Broad (rhymes with “road”) have been involved in the Los Angeles art community since they arrived here in 1963. Eli—the founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) from 1979 to 1984—is the only person to have built two Fortune 500 companies in different industries (homebuilding and insurance). In August 2010, the Broads announced plans to finance their own contemporary art museum, located on Grand Avenue, across the street from MoCA and one block away from the Frank Gehry–designed Walt Disney Concert Hall. They wanted access to be free, “so that affordability isn’t a criteria to see the art,” said Eli Broad at the museum’s opening gala in September of 2015. “Edye and I have been deeply moved by contemporary art and believe it inspires creativity and provokes lively conversations.”
The museum exterior is provocative in itself. Architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro—known for designing Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art and renovating New York City’s Lincoln Center—created the gallery space, dubbed “the vault,” with a honeycomb-like “veil” exterior that lets natural light flow inside. While some museums are dimly lit or bathed in artificial light, the high-ceilinged Broad lets sunlight come in from all sides, creating a clean, crisp ambience.
When it opened, the Broad was an immediate hit—so while admission is free, you still need a ticket for your specific day and time, which can be ordered in advance online. Once inside, make your way to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room, a mirror-lined chamber with a seemingly endless LED light display. You provide your name and phone number and you’ll get two text messages alerting you when you should return. Once inside—you can go in alone or as a pair for 45 seconds—look in every direction to see how many copies of yourself you can see. It feels like you're in the middle of a Vegas show, or a parade of lights.
While you wait for your turn in the Infinity Mirrored Room, take the escalator upstairs to the third floor, so that you can navigate the museum in chronological order. Begin with the major artists who came to prominence in the 1950s, including Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly. Then move into the 1960s and the Pop art of Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol, followed by the 1980s and ’90s with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons. When you return downstairs, complete your visit with the museum’s rotating exhibits, and make time for the interesting short film about the Broads in the first-floor video gallery.
