Norton Simon Museum

About

The Norton Simon Museum, located in Pasadena, California, is home to one of the world’s most remarkable private art collections ever assembled. Over a 30-year period, the industrialist Norton Simon (1907–1993) amassed an impressive group of European masterworks from the Renaissance to the 20th century, and a stellar collection of South and Southeast Asian art spanning 2,000 years. The museum’s collection comprises more than 11,000 objects, including significant works by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Fragonard, Goya, Degas, Vuillard, and Picasso. The museum’s permanent collection is highly regarded internationally and includes a diverse range of art, from European and South Asian masterpieces to modern works from Europe and the United States.

The museum’s history dates back to the Pasadena Art Institute, which was founded in 1922 and later incorporated as a privately endowed, nonprofit institution. After several transformative events, including a significant bequest of artworks and a merger with the Norton Simon Foundation, the museum reopened as the Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena in 1975. The museum’s extensive collection is displayed in a building that underwent a major renovation, resulting in an engaging space with raised ceilings, improved lighting, increased rotating exhibition space, and an entire floor devoted to Asian art. The museum also features a sculpture garden that houses works by major sculptors of the 19th and early 20th centuries.