A New Vision for Ancient Art at the Getty Villa

To me personally, this re-installation is an important part of what I really wanted to do when I first came to the Getty. Virtually every object has moved. The previous thematic installation, of course, brought things together that had the same subject matter. Now we're broadly following the history, the chronology from the Bronze Age through to late Roman times. So each gallery has material of a particular culture and period together. For visitors who are coming to the Villa, I think what they'll be struck by in this installation is how beautiful, how captivating the works look. We've taken a lot of trouble over the lighting, over the cases, over the juxtapositions of works of what relates and speaks to other things of the same period or what might be an interesting contrast for some reason. I think the experience of it as a display of ancient art will be quite a revelation. And that's, I think, the main message I want people to go away with. The thing I want them to remember about this experience is that these are major works of art that deserve to be compared with the great works of, whether it's the Renaissance, the Neoclassical period, the 20th century, whatever. These are really important works of art. There will be also, I think, a few surprises in this installation. There'll be new things to see, but even more than that, I think it's the resonance between objects that you'll be able to appreciate in the galleries in a way you couldn't before that I think will surprise everyone, whether they've been to us before or not.