Simon museum12/24/2023 ![]() ![]() Upon entering the museum’s lobby, visitors will be faced with a choice. The outside remains the same brown facade. (The reallocating of the space in the museum away from modern art was said to inspire the creation of LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art – MOCA – in 1979.) Some of the contemporary art still exists, as wellĪfter Simon’s death in 1993, his estate donated an additional $5 million for a Frank Gehry-led renovation to the building, as well as redesigned gardens and a new theatre. An additional $3 million gift yielded a name change, and the Norton Simon Museum was born. In return for being able to use 75% of the museum’s space to showcase his collection (the remainder continued to house the original modern art for which the museum was founded), Simon took over an $850,000 loan on the building and an additional $1 million in debt. Simon was also one of the preeminent art collectors in the world at the time, having amassed a collection of more than 4,000 works. Enter Norton Simon, an industrialist who was worth an estimated $10 billion from his founding of Hunt’s (yes, the ketchup). After moving into its current building in 1969, the museum experienced some major financial hardships, and was in danger of closing. In the 1960s, the museum was home to exhibits on modern masters like Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters. The Norton Simon Museum began life as the Pasadena Art Museum in 1954, devoting itself mainly to modern art, as this was a void in Los Angeles at the time. And yet, a couple hours later, I am as satisfied as after a visit to a European art palace. It isn’t as large or as famous as many of its brethren. I love you, but freelance writing will never allow me to afford you.) Returning here to the Norton Simon could be disappointing. I have even been lucky enough to collect some pieces from a few of my more affordable favorites. ![]() I am now forty, and have visited (and written about) art museums all over the world. Just outside the museum entrance is this sculpture I was too young to have a favorite artist, or even a favorite style, but “pretty” is a quality that even a small child can relate to. My maternal grandmother would bring me here, and together we would spend an hour or two looking at pretty paintings. The last time I was here was decades ago, something that shames me given its proximity to my home it is about a twelve minute drive away. However, this fairly plain brown building houses one of the region’s best collections – including one of the most iconic works ever created. Sitting on Colorado Boulevard, it is perhaps best known as being in the background of many Rose Parade broadcasts. The hilltop Getty Museum, huge LA County Museum of Art (LACMA), and futuristic Broad Museum get most of the love, but my personal favorite is a smaller enclave in Pasadena: the Norton Simon Museum. But that shouldn’t lead anyone to believe that the art scene in LA isn’t phenomenal, because, while the city lacks that one must-visit iconic art museum (see: Prado, Louvre, Met, etc…), it makes up for that with a large number of afternoon-worthy pilgrimages for art lovers. After all, one has the beaches, Hollywood, a dozen or more ethnic neighborhoods, theme parks, and more to explore. For most visitors to Los Angeles, art museums are not on the radar. ![]()
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