When you enter a museum, do your feet already know the story before your eyes do?

At many museums, they do. You go up, then across, then into rooms that quietly tell you, “Start here.” But at LACMA in Los Angeles, the new David Geffen Galleries try something different. The building opened on April 19, 2026, and it is now open to the public. It stretches across Wilshire Boulevard, with gallery access from both the north and south sides. Inside, the main galleries sit on one long elevated level, and LACMA says there is no fixed visitor path. (lacma.org)

So imagine this. You arrive with a friend. One of you comes from the park side, the other from the city side. You meet upstairs. No grand front door tells you which way is correct. A parent with a stroller can keep moving on one level. A visitor in a wheelchair can do the same. Glass walls keep Los Angeles in view, so even while you are looking at art, you still feel the street, the light, and the city outside. (unframed.lacma.org)

And then comes the bigger surprise. The walking path is not just freer. The art story is freer too. The inaugural installation is not organized by simple time periods or by medium. Instead, it uses the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, plus the Mediterranean, as a framework. LACMA also says visitors may find unusual neighbors, like a Dutch painting near modern photography, or African textiles near American quilts. (www-images.lacma.org)

That changes the museum walk. You are not only following history. You are making connections. In this building, walking becomes part of thinking. And maybe that is the real new gallery: not the concrete, not the glass, but the space between one artwork and the next.