The city of Los Angeles plays a significant role in the art of Edward Ruscha, and in turn, Ruscha is among the most prominent representatives of the city’s art scene. One of his most intriguing paintings is Los Angeles County Museum on Fire (1965-1968), in which the artist chose to depict then newly built art museum set ablaze. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LAMCA), is a three building complex designed by architect William Pereira. Shortly after the building opened to the public in 1965, Ruscha began painting Los Angeles County Museum on Fire. When initially exhibited in 1968 at the Irving Blum Gallery in Los Angeles, Rusha announced via telegram that the fire marshal would be on hand to see “the most controversial painting to be shown in Los Angeles in our time”. In this spirit, the painting was placed behind a velvet rope, as if to hold back angry crowds.

Ruscha depicted the new LACMA building in precise detail. In order to capture this aerial point of view of the museum building he used preparatory photographs taken from a helicopter. Throughout the years, the painting provoked different interpretations among art critics and historians. Most often, scholars have interpreted the painting as a critique of cultural and art institutions: while the new building was a way of enhance the legitimacy of the Los Angeles art community, Ruscha, as one of its leading representatives expressed a growing sense of alienation from the city’s art scene and its institutions. Others, however, understood the painting as a playful statement on the rising status of Los Angles art - the city’s art scene is so in demand that it is ‘on fire’. Another interpretation suggested Los Angeles County Museum on Fire was an allusion to the Watts riots that happened in Los Angeles in the summer of 1965. The riots, a result of racial tensions between the local community and the authorities, led to six days of conflict that resulted in 34 deaths and extensive property damage. The aerial photographs Ruscha used while painting Los Angeles County Museum on Fire were the same mode of surveillance the Los Angeles Police Department applied when the city was engulfed in flames during the Watts riots. It is possible that the painting melded the two different realities happening in Los Angeles at the time.

Ruscha generally rejected all of these interpretations arguing that he was mainly interested in depicting the ambiguity between serene and chaotic elements. He painted an elegant composition and a clean architectural structure, while a fire bursts from the back section of the complex. This kind of detachment amplifies a sense of uneasiness, and the artist builds tension through this contrast. In several interviews, Ruscha stated that the painting, Withdrawal of Dunkrik (1940) by Richard Eurich served as the inspiration for Los Angeles County Museum on Fire. Even though Ruscha chose to focus on the formal elements of the painting, the context, the timing and the choice of subject still suggest a strong connection to the social and cultural development of Los Angeles.