PARTIES

Night at the Museum

The shiny new Broad Museum opens with an A-list party in Los Angeles.


Owen Wilson, Jeff Koons, Founder Eli Broad, and Takashi Murakami

“Los Angeles, as you know, is a home of great artists,” says Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist behind the dazzling new Broad Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. On Thursday night, those great artists appeared in droves—L.A. legends John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha among them—along with the Hollywood set, and 800-or-so other guests in black tie and floor-length gowns, to inaugurate the new space with a proper party.

At the museum, which the city’s mayor Eric Garcetti has dubbed the “crown atop the hill,” the VIPs got an early start on what the public certainly will do at official opening on Sunday—that is, pose for selfies with the extraordinary, large-scale artworks. The two gallery floors brim with Instagrammable options: Yayoi Kusama’s famous “Infinity Room,” a mirrored chamber filled with twinkling LEDs on the ground floor, or, up the three-story escalator in a massive, skylit gallery, the reflective surfaces of Jeff Koons’s iconic “Blue Dog.” We spotted Owen Wilson posing with the artist, Mark Bradford engaged in an intimate conversation with Gwyneth Paltrow, and selfie-fanatic Takashi Murakami taking the opportunity to capture himself with Koons’s porcelain sculpture of Michael Jackson. If you’re counting at home, that’s three Pop stars in one.

Photos: Night at the Museum

Owen Wilson, Jeff Koons, Founder Eli Broad, and Takashi Murakami. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Todd Morgan and Rosanna Arquette. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Mark Bradford and Gwyneth Paltrow. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Ed Ruscha and Danna Ruscha. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

MOCA Director Philippe Vergne and Eli Broad. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Eva and Broad Board of Governors member Michael Chow. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Tacita Dean, Julie Mehretu, Mark Bradford, and Thomas Demand. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Founding Director Joanne Heyler and Damien Hirst. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Amy Wakeland and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Julian Schnabel, Katherine Ross, and LACMA Director Michael Govan. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Kate Burton and CTG Artist Director Michael Ritchie. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Brandon Davis and Barbara Davis. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

President of the Board of Trustees MOMA Josée Kravis and Henry Kravis. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Elizabeth Diller and Frank Gehry. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Catherine Opie and Julie Burleigh. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Leonard Lauder and Judith Glickman. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Sterling Ruby and Melanie Schiff. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Thelma Golden and Glenn Ligon. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Lynda and Stewart Resnick. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Iris Cantor and John Desiderio. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

John Currin and Rachel Feinstein. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Benedikt Taschen and Lauren Taschen. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

Sidney Felsem and Joani Moisant Weyl. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

The 50 piece orchestra during the Inaugural Dinner. Photo by Nicholas Gingold/Capture Imaging

1/24