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Norton Simon Museum

Architect
Frank Gehry
Year
1942
City
Los Angeles, CA
Norton Simon Museum
Photo: Tony Mariotti from Los Angeles, United States, CC BY 2.0
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The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, along the route of the Tournament of Roses's Rose Parade, where its distinctive brown-tile exterior appears in television broadcasts. Originally founded in 1942 as the Pasadena Art Institute, it later operated as the Pasadena Art Museum before taking collector Norton Simon's name, and its holdings span European paintings, sculpture, and tapestries alongside Asian sculpture, painting, and woodblock prints.

the building

Rodin at the entrance. Sculptures surround the museum grounds, with Rodin works clustered near the entrance and additional pieces set along Colorado Boulevard and around a landscaped pond.

The Norton Simon Theater. An on-site theater screens film programs daily and hosts lectures, symposia, and dance and musical performances throughout the year.

the architect

Frank Gehry (1929-2025) was a Canadian-American architect, born in Toronto.

More on Frank Gehry

significance

What began in 1942 as the Pasadena Art Institute was renamed the Pasadena Art Museum in 1954, after receiving roughly 400 German Expressionist works from collector Galka Scheyer, and later became the Norton Simon Museum.

more by Frank Gehry

nearby

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