Inside LACMA's 2026 Reopening: What To Know About The New David Geffen Galleries Artsy

(MENAFN- USA Art News) LACMA's New David Geffen Galleries Open April 19, 2026, With a Rebuilt Museum Experience

After nearly two decades of planning and construction, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will reopen its campus on April 19, 2026, with the debut of the David Geffen Galleries. Designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, the 100,000-square-foot building stretches roughly 900 feet across Wilshire Boulevard and gives the museum a dramatically new profile on the Miracle Mile.

The project is more than a new shell for the collection. Elevated on concrete supports, the building shifts LACMA's circulation and reorders how visitors encounter the museum. Its 26 galleries sit on a single floor, a choice intended to loosen the traditional hierarchy of museum display and allow for a more open, self-directed path through the collection. Rather than following a strict Western timeline, the reinstallation groups works around major bodies of water: the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea.

That curatorial framework will anchor an inaugural installation that includes new commissions by Todd Gray, Lauren Halsey, Do Ho Suh, and Diana Thater, alongside major works by Georges de la Tour, Henri Matisse, Francis Bacon, Vincent van Gogh, and Diego Rivera. The museum has also emphasized the building's relationship to its surroundings. Sand-colored concrete was chosen in part to reduce cooling costs, solar panels cover the roof, and the gallery level hovers above the street, opening nearly four acres of public space below and around the structure.

The reopening will unfold in stages. Members and donors will have access from April 19 through May 3, followed by NexGenLA, the museum's youth membership program for Los Angeles County residents. On April 22, Michael Govan and Zumthor are scheduled to discuss the building in a public conversation at the East West Bank Commons. The museum's public programming continues on June 20 with Jeffrey Deitch's Art Parade on Wilshire Boulevard.

The new building also arrives alongside a major transit change: the Wilshire/Fairfax Metro station, one of three new stops on the Metro D (Purple) line, opens on May 8. For LACMA, the timing is significant. The museum is not only unveiling a new architectural landmark; it is also redefining how art, public space, and urban movement meet in Los Angeles.

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