The 8 Best Museums in Los Angeles for People Who Love Film, Gardens, and Ancient and Contemporary Art

When most people think of Los Angeles, they often imagine Hollywood: celebrities, studio tours, and the Walk of Fame. But the City of Angels is also home to one of the most exciting museum scenes in the nation, with a new opening in fall 2026. In addition, many of them have beautiful outdoor spaces to enjoy Southern California’s mild climate. Whether you’re into ancient or contemporary art, cinema history, or neon, there’s a museum in Los Angeles for you. These are eight of the best.

1. Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Photo by Elliott Cowand Jr./Shutterstock

Start at the most L.A. of L.A. museums, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, right next door to Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The Academy Museum’s collection is massive—it holds more than 13 million objects related to film history, some dating back to 1927.

Don’t miss an E.T. from iconic 1980s film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Dorothy’s ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz (1939), and the May Queen dress worn by Florence Pugh in folk-horror film Midsommar (2019). In addition, there are Close-Up guided tours, workshops for families, and two movies screened daily for those who’d rather go straight to the cinema and skip the museum (film tickets are $5 or $10). Accessibility events include monthly tours for hearing- and sight-impaired visitors, plus a “Calm Morning” program one Saturday per month for those who need a setting that’s less sensory stimulating.

Exhibitions not to miss

Current special exhibits include the recently opened Glow: A Cinematic Moodscape (through May 21, 2027), plus the ongoing Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon (through February 28, 2027) and Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho (through October 24, 2027).

2. The Broad

Photo by Adrian Huerta, courtesy of the Broad

Founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, the Broad shook up the Los Angeles museum scene when it opened downtown more than a decade ago. There are some 2,000 works behind its honeycomb-like facade, among them pieces by Mickalene Thomas, Barbara Kruger, and Cindy Sherman. To coincide with the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A., the Broad will open an expansion, including a top-floor outdoor space.

Exhibitions not to miss

On through October 11, 2026: Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, a collaboration with London’s Tate Modern and the first solo museum show of her work in Southern California. Also on view are a rotating installation of works by Takashi Murakami and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Broad has not one but two of the late, great Yayoi Kusama’s famous Infinity Rooms: Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away (2013) and Longing for Eternity (2017), and you’ll need to book in advance to get in.

Related: University Museums Are Underrated Places to See Art, Often for Free. Here Are 10 of the Best in the U.S.

3. The Getty Villa

Photo by Edgar Torabyan/Unsplash

If a trip to Italy or Greece isn’t in the cards this year, the Getty Villa is the next best thing. Just off the Pacific Coast Highway, one of the prettiest drives in the USA, is the equally stunning Getty Villa.

The former home of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, the building was modeled off Herculaneum’s first century C.E. Villa de Papyri. Its collection comprises more than 44,000 pieces, mostly ancient Etruscan, Greek, and Roman artworks that were once part of the oil magnate’s personal collection. The villa’s elaborate painted ceilings, marble floors, and Doric and Corinthian columns compliment the art on display. The vast property includes a reflecting pool and outdoor amphitheater.

While much of Getty Villa was spared when wildfires raged through the Palisades in January 2025, 1,400 trees were burned. Most of those were removed, but some stumps remain as reminders of the fire. The gardens, filled with numerous fruit trees and herbs, survived intact and are verdant, tranquil spaces to Zen out. Note that the Getty Villa will close for a one-year renovation starting March 15, 2027, reopening ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Exhibitions not to miss

Through November 30, 2026, The Egyptian Book of the Dead showcases ancient papyrus art and text. About 30 minutes away in Brentwood is impressive sibling museum the Getty Center, which houses art from the medieval period to today.

4. Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Photo by Justin Audia/Unsplash

You’ll want to spend hours indoors and outdoors at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens (known as the Huntington). The Mediterranean revival style building, which dates to 1920, sits on 130 acres of diverse gardens. Among the garden’s 16 areas are a classical Chinese garden complete with pagoda, inspired by those of Suzhou, and a jungle garden with a waterfall and enormous tropical plants, including ferns, bamboo, and bromeliads that can grow 10 feet long.

Indoors, the library shelves house a cool 12 million items from the 11th century to the present, while the impressive art museum holds American and European classical and contemporary art.

Exhibitions not to miss

The current Stories from the Library series has two special exhibits through November 30, 2026; Damaged Goods looks at the beauty of imperfections while The Mirror of the Moon covers how writers, artists, scientists, and others have been inspired by the moon. This Land Is . . . takes America 250 as its inspiration and features historic maps, documents, manuscripts, and photographs, as well as such artifacts as a 1936 acoustic guitar owned by folk music icon Woody Guthrie and inscribed “This Machine Kills Fascists” (through January 11, 2027).

5. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Photo by Leo_Visions/Unsplash

LACMA, the largest art museum in the western United States, has more than 155,000 items in collections spanning 6,000 years. The museum is spread across three buildings, including the curvy David Geffen Galleries, which opened in April 2026.

Asian, South American, and Islamic art are the museum’s strong points. In addition to sculpture, photographs, and paintings, LACMA has sizable collection of costumes (encompassing shoes, hats, qipao, and more) furnishings (lamps, pitchers, chairs among them), jewelry, and textiles.

Exhibitions not to miss

Current exhibits include Pablo Picasso—Portraits in Disguise (through December 6, 2026) and Eileen Cowin: Between Panic and Paradise, a retrospective of the L.A.-based photographer and video artist’s experimental videos, Polaroids, and inkjet prints (through January 3, 2027).

6. Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Photo by Paul Salveson, courtesy Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

The hotly anticipated Lucas Museum of Narrative Art sits on 13 acres of landscaped gardens like a white spaceship—one with a living green roof and 100,000 square feet of galleries. MAD Architects, who built the Paris Olympics Aquatic Center, designed the curvy building while U.S. Commission of Fine Arts appointee Mia Lehrer created the gardens.

The museum’s art collection centers on images that tell a story, ranging from work by N.C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell to comics by Frank Frazetta, Robert Crumb, and others, plus such modern artists as Judith F. Baca and Frida Kahlo. The Lucas Archives is a collection of costumes, props, artifacts, and artwork from Lucasfilm productions between 1971–2012, which includes the first six Star Wars films and the first four Indiana Jones movies.

The museum’s film program uses two theaters: one will focus on experimental short films (the Slavko Vorkapich Theater) and the other on documentaries (the Robert Flaherty Theater), with movies running continuously during the day.

Take advantage of Los Angeles’s balmy weather by wandering around the garden where native vegetation and flowers such as bougainvillea and jacaranda hang, a large waterfall cools the air and the building itself, and there are plenty of places to sit.

Exhibitions not to miss

The museum opens September 22, 2026, with its permanent collection rather than rotating temporary exhibitions.

7. Museum of Neon Art

Photo by Audrey Shattuck/Unsplash

Bright lights, big city: It’s hard to miss the warm glow of this museum’s sign (especially at night). The Museum of Neon Art (MONA) was originally founded in downtown L.A. in 1981 but reopened at its current location in Glendale in 2016, about 10 miles north.

The space is completely devoted to electric and light-based arts and their evolution through the years. MONA is a bit science-y and goes into technical details about neon, electric, and kinetic art. Some gems include neon signs from the Brown Derby (a now defunct small chain of restaurants in L.A. known for their hat-shaped buildings) and Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The museum has some 190 signs in its own collection; it also has helped restore more than 500 historic signs and relight 150-plus signs across the city.

Exhibitions not to miss

This upcoming exhibit is guaranteed to please: Wonder Lanes: The Signs and Style of Midcentury Bowling (opens in November).

8. Norton Simon Museum

Photos © Norton Simon Art Foundation

About 10 miles northeast of downtown L.A., this museum combines the private collection of 20th-century industrialist and philanthropist Norton Simon and works from the former Pasadena Art Museum. Its collection is especially rich in 19th-century European paintings, 20th-century American paintings, and South and Southeast Asian painting and sculpture.

The Norton Simon Museum’s entrance and a sculpture garden have numerous works by Rodin, Barbara Hepworth, and Aristide Maillol; the dozen works in the Asian Sculpture Garden are older artworks primarily from India. In the garden, planted with yellow flag iris, calla lilies, sago palms, and eucalyptus, yellow and white water lilies float on a small central pond.

Free, one-hour tours include highlights from the collection; “Mindful Looking” focuses on a single artwork. Tours are also available for visitors with special needs.

Exhibitions not to miss

The current special exhibition is The Art of Kandy: Sri Lanka’s Last Kingdom (through February 8, 2027).

Plan your trip with Afar’s guide to four perfect days in Los Angeles.

Mae Hamilton and Sophie Friedman contributed to the reporting of this story.