The Man, the Metropolis, and the $720 Million Museum

For the last 20 years, LACMA director Michael Govan has faced off with billionaires and bureaucrats to reinvent the encyclopedic museum in Los Angeles, courtesy of a new building by Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor. Before Govan unveils the finished structure to the world, he gives Vanity Fair a sneak peek at the most important—and controversial—museum building in a generation.