The January 2024 Los Angeles fires inflicted catastrophic damage on the city’s artistic landscape—destroying many artworks, rare collections, and historic institutions. The Eaton and Palisades fires, which burned across 60 square miles of the city, have claimed a striking number of private collections of art and threatened major museums, marking what many are calling the most significant art-related disaster in Los Angeles history.
Among the most devastating losses is gallerist Ron Rivlin’s collection of over 200 high-value artworks, including 30 pieces by Andy Warhol, which were consumed by flames in his Pacific Palisades home. The fires also destroyed hundreds of musical scores by modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg, housed at his son’s Palisades residence. However, not only private collections fell victim to the fires. The historic Alto Beta gallery in Altadena was completely destroyed, along with its current exhibition featuring ten paintings by Mary Anna Pomonis. Private collections accumulated over decades have vanished overnight, including significant works by contemporary artists Rashid Johnson, Jim Shaw, and Fredrik Nilsen.
Additionally, The Getty Center and Getty Villa, home to some of the world’s most valuable art collections, faced unprecedented threats as flames reached their grounds. Emergency response teams at the Getty Villa fought the encroaching fires with hand-held extinguishers, managing to protect the institution’s priceless collection of antiquities. Both institutions remain stable, though the fires have brought forth the vulnerability of even the most protected cultural institutions in the area.
Eva Ilieva (’26) recalls her experience at the Getty as “standing in the central garden and thinking that it looked like art on its own.” Though, she also acknowledges how this extends outside of museums as “the city is filled with murals that have also been damaged by the fires.”
Art History teacher Kevin Klein puts the event into historical context, noting that “the loss here is not on the scale of the Dresden fire bombings of 1945, but it’s high on the list of the worst-ever disasters for lost art.” He explains, “it wasn’t only costly artwork, but historically important ones that were burned,” including the Andrew McNally House and Arnold Schoenberg’s original “Pierrot Lunaire” manuscript. While museums have taken precautions against such disasters, Klein notes that “we can do quite a bit, but there are no guarantees that artworks can be made to endure forever. In fact, we know they can’t; we can only extend their lives.”
The architectural losses have been equally severe. The flames have claimed numerous modernist masterpieces, including homes designed by Ray Kappe, Richard Neutra, and Rudolph Schindler. The Will Rogers estate, a 359-acre property that served as a beloved house museum and park since 1944, has been destroyed—eliminating a crucial piece of Hollywood’s architectural history.The destruction extends beyond physical artworks to important archival materials and manuscripts. On the morning of January 7, writer Gary Indiana’s extensive collection of rare art books and editions arrived in Altadena from New York. Within hours, this irreplaceable library was reduced to ash, as not only objects were lost but also the potential for future educational resources.
Major cultural institutions have quickly responded to the crisis. A coalition including the J Paul Getty Trust, LACMA, and the Hammer Museum has established a $12 million LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund. However, the true cost of these losses goes beyond monetary value as many of the destroyed works represented irreplaceable pieces of Los Angeles’s history.
As the city begins to assess the full scope of the damage, questions arise about the future protection of artistic assets in an era of increasing climate instability. For students wanting to help, “the California Art Education Association is organizing relief efforts for public school employees affected by the fires,” points out Klein. The fires have exposed vulnerabilities in how art is preserved and protected, igniting discussions about new strategies to protect the region’s remaining works and ensure their preservation in the event of future disasters.
