DISCOVERY : THE MUSEUM COMPANY

‘It’s pretty, but is it Art?”--Rudyard Kipling

Can’t make it to the auction at Sotheby’s or Christie’s to ante up $82.5 million for a Van Gogh or $78.1 million for a Renoir? The Museum Company in the Brea Mall may be the ideal alternative.

Art lovers, from the connoisseur to the novice, from the dabbler to the collector, can find great works of art at one-millionth of the price of an art auction.

The Museum Company is an inviting kind of place with a facade of mahogany columns with gold inlays, a marble-tiled entry and soft aristocratic gray carpets. It is a subtly laid-out haven beaconing the curious and knowledgeable into its well-lit, cozy, comfortable interiors. Step in to browse for a minute, and stroll out three hours later having spent time with the masters of the art world.

And it is a lifesaver for people who are rich in taste, but not as blessed financially. The store is chock-full of replicas and reproductions of the great works of art.

“This is like visiting a museum shop,” said store manager Amy Iverson. “People can walk in and get reproductions of art. We buy directly from museums or their licensees. And we’re the only store in Southern California that does this.”

Representing more than 230 museums worldwide, the store has re-creations of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “The Rowing Party,” Paul Gauguin’s “The Vase of Flowers” and Claude Monet’s “The Artist’s Garden at Giverny.”

Paintings are reproduced through a patented process called “artagraph.” A large-format transparency is taken of the original painting, scanned by a laser, computerized, printed in precise overlapping layers and then molded into a three-dimensional reproduction that replicates the original perfectly.

More realistic than a serigraph, artagraph is a complicated process that re-creates an original painting right down to the color and texture. These museum-quality framed, certificated copies from the world’s greatest artists can cost anywhere from $525 for Edgar Degas’ “L’Etoile” to $935 for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s “At the Moulin Rouge; The Dance” or “Harlequin and His Companion” by Pablo Ruiz Picasso to $1,350 for “Still Life With Curtain” by Paul Cezanne.

The shop also houses an impressive collection of replicated sculptures such as “David” and “Moses” by Michelangelo Buonarotti; “The Thinker,” “The Cathedral” and “The Kiss” by Auguste Rodin as well as the “Discus Thrower,” a bust of Mark Twain, and assorted other sculptures. Prices range from $26 to $450.

No museum-type store would be complete without the requisite art books, calendars, postcards, stationery, jewelry and posters. And they’re all in hearty supply at the Museum Company, along with collections of art from Africa, India, China and Colombia.

An eclectic array of wall hangings rounds out the collection of objets d’art. Generally, they range from $15 for small Egyptian-themed pieces to $27.50 for “Father Time” or a “Moonfeast” zodiac and $35 for a Pharoah’s head.

“This one is really popular,” says Iverson, pointing out a macabre relief of a skeleton encircled by a serpent, bats and cherubs. “This particular piece is a replica of a historical tombstone.”

It may or may not be pretty, but at the Museum Company, it is indeed art.

Hours: Mall hours: Monday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Address: Brea Mall: Imperial Highway and State College Boulevard Telephone: (714) 256-0965 Miscellaneous Information: The store is located on the first level of the Nordstrom/Robinson’s wing