Fun and--Ugh--Learning for Art’s Toughest Critics

The kids would have walked right past it, as they had dozens of other paintings by “guys who’ve been dead for like a million-billion years or something.” But playing the game meant we had to stop, so there we were, the four of us, standing in a familial half-circle, intently studying one of Monet’s grapes.

And it was fun. For all of us. The boys--ages 8 and 11--suddenly realized “still life” didn’t have to mean “deadly boring.” They counted the different colors in that tiny piece of fruit as my wife and I counted the many blessings of the Getty Center’s programs to get kids interested in art.

The game we were playing--What’s My Style?--is just one of several activities parents can check out from the center’s Family Room and enjoy together in the galleries of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Family Room is a fun resource--a place where kids can try on costumes, draw pictures, piece together computer artwork or do other things you couldn’t do at a typical, stodgy, all-the-time-with-the-shushing art museum.

That’s the point, said Elizabeth Escamilla, manager of family, student and teacher programs at the Getty.

“We’re so programmed to speak in hushed tones, to act a certain way in these pristine places, that families don’t always know it’s OK to interact with their kids in the galleries,” Escamilla said. “We think that’s a missed opportunity. So we try to teach that it’s OK to sit on the floor and talk with your child and have this rewarding experience.”

In addition to the games, the Getty offers a family audio guide that features special stops, activities and stories picked to pique kids’ curiosity. It rents for $3. The museum also conducts family-friendly gallery tours called Art Adventures at 2 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.

Our adventure began even before we reached the museum--atop the Getty’s parking garage. That’s where we caught the tram for the winding ride up the hill to the center’s sprawling complex.

Before we’d left home, the kids were having a hard time recalling whether they liked the Getty, which we’d visited once before. “It’s the one that’s high on a hill,” we prodded. “Lots of portraits of people in funny clothes. Really, really fancy furniture. Van Gogh’s ‘Irises.’” Nothing.

“Tram from the parking garage that kind of looks like a subway car, only there isn’t a driver and it rides on a cushion of air?”

“Ohhhhh,” they said in unified recognition.

To their credit, once we hit the grounds, they did remember many of the works, especially the Greek and Roman statues and their missing appendages as well as the over-the-top showy decorative arts objects.

But the non-tram thing they remembered most was the Family Room, so that was our first stop. The 8-year-old made a beeline for one of the two computers, where he used the mouse to move puzzle pieces and reconstruct works by Cezanne and Lichtenstein. Meanwhile, his brother donned a regal robe modeled after the one in the museum’s 16th century portrait of Spanish aristocrat Francisco de los Cobos y Molina.

I think at first our older boy tried on the heavy, high-necked garment just to humor the nice staff member assisting him. But when she revealed a panel backdrop of a palace setting, complete with an ornate fireplace, he started to relish the role. He changed into the cloak of an English gentleman from a Thomas Gainsborough work, and suddenly he adopted the stern, haughty chin-up pose we would see in so many portraits during our visit.

A smile back on his face and the cloak back on its hook, we learned more about the games we didn’t have time to play during our previous visit. We decided to try two: the Getty Art Detective and What’s My Style?

The object of the latter is to find a particular painting in one of the galleries using only a picture of a detail from the work.

Our older son was so proud of himself when he spotted the telltale Monet grape in “Still Life With Flowers and Fruit” that he acted as if he were leading a class. “See the many brush strokes, even in the shadows,” he read from the card. “Look at how many colors Monet uses for a single grape.”

“I see six,” the younger boy declared. “Now can we play the detective game?”

His brother started humming the James Bond theme, which was our cue to try tackling the first mystery in the stack of detective cards. “What season and time of day do you think are shown in this painting?” the game card asked of a 19th century portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The boys noted the warm sunlight and the long shadows and guessed late afternoon.

“She has a fan,” the younger boy said. “Must be summer.” Two mysteries solved.

Not exactly the stuff of a John le Carre novel, but the boys were content to track down clues for more than 45 minutes, and all told, their parents got to spend close to two hours in galleries without having to endure even a whit of whining.

When the spell finally did wear off, we were all ready to retire to the gardens anyway. I sat on the grass as my wife used drawing materials borrowed from the Family Room to sketch the flowers that line a man-made stream. Meanwhile, the boys were busy discovering their new favorite thing about the Getty.

They lay on the grass at the top of a slope--their eyes closed, their hands tucked in tight--and began rolling down the great expanse of green like runaway logs. “The grass is perfect,” the 11-year-old would say later. “It’s cut close and it’s smooth--no bumps.”

Now if there were only a tram that ran back to the top.

The Family Room at the Getty Center is recommended for children ages 5 to 13 accompanied by an adult. On June 1, the museum will host its quarterly Family Festival, with free art-making workshops, musical performances, storytelling and gallery activities.

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J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. Sundays and Tuesdays-Thursdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Closed Mondays. Free; parking is $5 (parking reservations are needed before 4 p.m. weekdays). (310) 440-7300 or www.getty.edu.