Norton Simon Museum. The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States.
It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum. The Norton Simon collections include: European paintings, sculptures, and tapestries; Asian sculptures, paintings, and woodblock prints; and sculpture gardens displaying many sculptors' work in a landscape setting around a large pond.
The museum contains the Norton Simon Theater which shows film programs daily, and hosts lectures, symposia, and dance and musical performances year-round. The museum is located along the route of the Tournament of Roses's Rose Parade, where its distinctive, brown tile-exterior can be seen in the background on TV. After receiving approximately 400 German Expressionist pieces from collector Galka Scheyer in 1953, the Pasadena Art Institute changed its name to the Pasadena Art Museum in 1954 and occupied the Chinoiserie-style The Grace Nicholson Treasure House of Oriental Art building on North Los Robles Avenue until 1970.
The Museum filled a void, being the only modern art museum between San Francisco and La Jolla in California at the time. It was renowned for progressive art exhibits and supported the work of local contemporary artists such as Helen Lundeberg, John McLaughlin, and Sam Francis.
In 1962, curator Walter Hopps arrived from the Ferus gallery, organizing an early Pop a