The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has unveiled its new David Geffen Galleries, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. The long-awaited building replaces four previous museum structures and spans Wilshire Boulevard with a single elevated, glass-and-concrete venue. Major construction concluded in late 2024, and LACMA plans to fully open the building to the public in April 2026. However, the galleries are now accessible to the public during special opening hours.
Photographs by Dutch artist Iwan Baan, released alongside the announcement, provide the first interior views of the nearly 110,000-square-foot exhibition level. They show the massive new building complex alongside sculptures by Tony Smith and Michael Heizer. Some of the museum areas will begin opening this summer. These include Ray’s and Stark Bar (a restaurant on the museum premises) and a new LACMA Store, among other outdoor spaces.
LACMA inaugurated the building during a public preview accompanied by a performance led by composer Kamasi Washington. He led an orchestra of more than 100 musicians throughout the empty galleries with a rendition of his song Harmony of Difference. The performance was the first of three planned “sonic previews,” intended to bring audiences to the empty building.
The Geffen Galleries were made possible by a $150 million gift from American film producer David Geffen, with additional support from American businesswoman Elaine Wynn, who the building’s north wing will be named after. The County of Los Angeles also invested $125 million into the project. The south wing has not yet been named.
“We’re excited that visitors from both near and far can begin to experience the impact of this amazing building this year, as we ramp up toward the 2026 grand opening celebration,” said Michael Goven, LACMA’s CEO in a statement. “Harnessing the power of art to console, we also hope to be a part of the spiritual healing of Los Angeles as it recovers from the recent unprecedented fires.”
The newly designed museum will also present plenty of public art. For example, an outdoor plaza will host a major new commission by Mexican artist Mariana Castillo Deball titled Feathered Changes. Outdoor artworks by British sculptor Thomas Houseago, American artist Liz Glynn, Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes, Japanese artist Shio Kusaka, and others will be installed throughout the 3.5-acre public campus in the coming months.
Another notable acquisition for the museum’s reopening is Jeff Koons’s 37-foot-tall sculpture Split-Rocker. The gigantic topiary work, covered in over 50,000 live plants, will be permanently installed on the grounds. Donated by museum patrons Lynda and Stewart Resnick, the work is in the shape of a children’s toy, with one side depicting a dinosaur and the other a rocking horse head.
