Eavesdropping to Remember

We were at J. Paul Getty's Museum at the Getty Center when we chanced upon a grandfather explaining a watercolor painting to his granddaughter cradled in his arms. She must be around 4 yrs old.

Grandfather: Do you see the reflection of the trees on the lake?

Little Girl nods.

Grandfather: You know sometimes, the reflection of the trees on the lake is more beautiful than the trees themselves. Do you see it?

Little Girl replies no comment. Grandpa moves on to the next painting.

I wish I had such a grandfather (or anybody), who could help me see the subtle beauties and not the intricate technicalities of art.

***

By the way, the J. Paul Getty museum is an astoundingly remarkable feat of a human being's love for the Arts. Access to the museum is free, you only pay for parking ($15). And you really wonder why. You have to.

It's huge, it's gorgeous, it's got an amazing view of Santa Monica and other Santas in LA, it's got the original works of Van Gogh, Gaugin, Monet. One of the caretakers pointed out to us a painting that's worth 5 million dollars. Hoowaw. They've got other collections besides paintings. We made the mistake of allotting only 2 hours to it. Take away 30 minutes of the time they spent looking for me (Ooops, I got lost again!) so we actually spent only 1.5 hours of pleasure "studying" the works.

It's a must visit.

***

So yeah, I'm wondering how Getty could be privately-owned and be free for everyone while the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) is government-owned and taxes each visitor $20. I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering.