Itinerary: Painting the Town

Los Angeles is in the early stages of Van Gogh fever (see Cover Story, Page 6), an affliction marked by the appearance of 70 paintings by the popular artist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, starting Sunday.

If the hordes drawn to the exhibition in Washington are any indication, it’ll only get worse in the coming weeks.

The best course of treatment? A steady diet of art appreciation and creation.

Today

Simply put: If you haven’t bought tickets to “Van Gogh’s Van Goghs: Masterpieces From the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam,” get on the ball. Remember when you could only get reservations for the Getty on a Tuesday afternoon?

Good news is the museum has extended the show’s run through May 16, and its hours from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Sure, they cost up to $20--but hey, how cheap is a plane ticket to the Netherlands? ([323] 857-6000 or [213] 462-ARTS.)

And while you’re planning ahead, make a parking reservation for the Getty, so you can go see the “Irises,” too.

Friday

To really rev up for Van Gogh, rent Robert Altman’s 1990 film “Vincent & Theo,” which stars Tim Roth as the tortured artist and Paul Rhys as his brother. Boiled down from a four-hour miniseries for European TV, the film was praised for Jean Lepine’s cinematography and superior art direction by Altman’s son, Stephen. Make it a double feature with “Lust for Life,” the 1956 biography directed by Vincente Minnelli. Kirk Douglas won a Golden Globe and a New York Film Critics Circle award for his portrayal of Van Gogh, and was nominated for an Oscar.

If you want more diversity in your artistic palette, check out the “All About Andy” film program at the Nuart (11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, [310] 478-6379) at midnight. “15 Minutes,” Mark Schwartz’s sendup of Andy Warhol’s famous statement that we’ll each get 15 minutes of fame, is on the bill with two 1960s documentaries, “Superartist” and “Andy Makes a Movie.”

Saturday

Catch a preview of “Art,” the Tony-winning play that opens officially Tuesday at the UCLA/James A. Doolittle Theatre (1615 N. Vine St., Hollywood. $20 to $80. [800] 447-7400).

At the center of French playwright Yasmina Reza’s comedy is a painting--a large all-white canvas. The problem is that Serge (Victor Garber) bought this painting--paid a pretty sum for it, too--and his close friend Marc (Alan Alda) hates it and doesn’t hesitate much in telling Serge so. The question is: What happens when two people have a close friendship but wildly divergent tastes? Garber, Alda and Alfred Molina are all reprising the roles they played on Broadway last year.

Sunday

Get in touch with your right brain at one of the several paint-your-own ceramics places around.

At Color Me Mine (233 S. Beverly Blvd., Beverly Hills, [310] 247-1226), you can paint ceramic pieces, from bowls and mugs to busts of Elvis. You pay for the object, plus $6 an hour ($4 for kids) to work.

Color Me Mine started out at a little storefront on La Brea Avenue in the early 1990s--and now it’s an international company with hopes to have 100 shops open in 1999. Already there are a dozen franchised shops in the Los Angeles and Orange County area, including Larchmont Village, Santa Monica, Encino and Long Beach.

Or, at Mudd Beach (1113 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, [310] 318-2242 or 148 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, [626] 449-4050), you can also try mosaic-making.