Murphy Sculpture Garden - Masterpieces Under Jacarandas

Murphy Sculpture Garden - Masterpieces Under Jacarandas

Photo: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on UCLA Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

You've reached the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, more than five acres of lawns and paths set with about 70 modern and contemporary sculptures, open for anyone to wander. Chancellor Murphy envisioned it in 1960 as a place where students would meet great art on the way to class, and landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell turned a former parking lot into the garden, completed in 1967. Cornell planned it before anyone knew which sculptures would arrive: a brick plaza, a walk lined with South African coral trees and sloping lawns shaded by jacarandas, which bloom purple in late spring.

Look for works by Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, Joan Miro, Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth and Isamu Noguchi, and for Richard Serra's steel piece T.E.U.C.L.A., added in 2006. The Hammer Museum looks after the collection.

This is the last stop. Take your time on the lawns first, then walk south past Bunche Hall to Royce Quad, about five minutes away, to close the loop.

Getting here: Head northeast along the campus walkways past Bunche Hall, the tall building with a grid-like facade, into the garden, about six minutes.

Did you know?: Henri Matisse's set of four bronze reliefs of a woman's back, made between 1909 and 1930, stands in the garden.

Photo op: In late spring, frame a sculpture against the purple jacaranda canopy; the rest of the year, the coral tree walk makes a strong leading line.

More on Wikipedia: Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden · Franklin David Murphy · Ralph D. Cornell · Richard Serra

Stops on this tour

  1. Royce Hall - Two Towers, Not Twins
  2. Powell Library - Where Fahrenheit 451 Was Typed
  3. Inverted Fountain - Where the Water Falls In
  4. Kerckhoff Hall - A Widow's Gothic Gift
  5. Ackerman Union - The Campus Living Room
  6. Bruin Bear - Two Tons of Bronze Mascot
  7. Pauley Pavilion - The House Wooden Filled
  8. Wilson Plaza - UCLA's Front Porch
  9. Janss Steps - 87 Steps and a Legend
  10. Fowler Museum - World Art Behind Brick Arches
  11. Murphy Sculpture Garden - Masterpieces Under Jacarandas