A New Look for the Norton Simon

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, too long underpatronized, has been reborn with an architectural remodeling that should help increase the number of visitors. Christopher Knight of The Times has called the museum’s contents “the greatest painting collection in the western United States.” But his Times colleague Suzanne Muchnic opined that it “has been resting on its laurels for the past 25 years.” Both observations hit home.

The few who did visit the Norton Simon often felt they were entering a private club, a dark, hushed place of wood-paneled exclusivity, not an institution welcoming to all.

Now the museum is showing off its outstanding collection in a viewer-friendly yet still elegant way, thanks to an architectural remodeling by renowned architect Frank O. Gehry. He has turned the museum’s old building into a commodious, well-lighted adventure in the arts. Gehry raised the ceilings and installed skylights. Where there were walls, there are columns clad in earthy Indian sandstone.

The garden has been redesigned and expanded, and some corners of it are reminiscent of Monet’s garden in Giverny. Altogether the museum has spent $5 million in the renovation. Looking at the result, it is obvious the money was well spent.

The late Norton Simon, an industrialist who made his home in California starting in the 1950s, became an avid and aggressive collector, and when his treasures demanded more space he assumed financial control and governance over the Pasadena Museum of Modern Art and reopened it in his name.

The Impressionist works are outstanding--formidable pieces by Manet, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Cezanne. There are more than 100 works by Edgar Degas, among them the famous Simon’s Modeles, the original bronzes cast from Degas’ waxes and which served as the foundry models to reproduce all the subsequent sets.

The collection is also very strong in the old European masters like Raphael, Botticelli, Rubens, Rembrandt, Zurbaran, Tiepolo and Goya. From another world is a remarkable collection of sculptures from India and Southeast Asia.

Starting Oct. 3, the museum will open an extra day each week and will also add more hours of viewing, lifting the veil on one of Southern California best-kept secrets.