The docent tour of the Weisman Art Foundation

Why it is on the list

Frederick R. Weisman bought the estate in 1982 to show his own collection, and his widow, the conservator and curator Billie Milam Weisman, still directs the foundation.¹ The villa is Gordon B. Kaufmann's, from the late 1920s, with hand-painted ceilings, stucco work and wood-inlaid floors; Franklin D. Israel added a pavilion in 1991 for the larger works.¹ More than four hundred works are on show, from Cezanne, Picasso and Kandinsky through Ernst, Miro and Magritte to de Kooning, Still, Rothko, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Ruscha, hung in the rooms of a house rather than in galleries.¹² The house, pavilion and gardens open only to guided tours booked in advance.¹³

It is the wrong choice for anyone with children under twelve, and for anyone who finds stairs hard: there are many, a good deal of walking and no lift.³ For architecture rather than a collection, take the private interior tour of the Eames House.

How to get it

Book a tour on the foundation's tours page, Monday to Friday at 10:30 am or 1:30 pm; for more than six, call +1 310 867 5772 instead.³ Questions go to tours@weismanfoundation.org.³ The tour runs about 1 hour 45 minutes, the group stays with its docent throughout, and nobody can leave part way.³ Arrive at the gate no more than five minutes early; it is the one with a bronze sculpture of a man, and the docent opens it or you press the intercom.³ Tell the foundation at once of a cancellation or a change in numbers; it may cancel a tour at short notice.³

Discretion

Cars park inside the gate, never on the street, and guests stay in the car until parked; nobody walks in or is dropped off unless by taxi or limousine.³ Bags and phones stay locked in the car, or phones are silenced, and photographs are allowed outside only.³