Norton Simon Museum

Norton Simon Museum

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena is an amazing place to see the greatest works of art the world has to offer. There are 2 primary areas to the Norton Simon. The first floor has a plethora of paintings from the 14th century to the Impressionist paintings of the 20th century. Artists like Van Gogh, Degas, Manet, and Renoir give the 20th century impressionist section a richness and fascination that was awe inspiring. I was also moved by the paintings of the 14th to 16th centuries. The attention to detail and the fluency by which these artists captured their subjects is amazing. The paintings seem life like, and take you through a visual journey that the artist wanted to convey. The forests have such lush, green hue, and the representation of country life is portrayed very well. I think the most impressive display was the pictures of the faces of the people being painted. From Dukes, and people of high rank to scrub women and poor peasants, the facial features and expressions are what make the paintings of this era so spectacular. I could feel these people, not just see these people, and that is the crowning achievement created by all the impressionist and earlier artist whose pictures are on display. The whole top floor of the Norton Simon Museum is dedicated to the great artists of Europe and the Americas

After you visit the top floor, you can see movies about Norton Simon which tell about his life, successes and failures, and his dedication and life’s work to make these great classics available to the public.

When you go to the second or lower floor, you see a magnitude of South Asian art which is outstanding. First, the lower floor has glass walls looking out into the courtyard, and the beautiful flowers, bamboo trees, small pond and many trees create an ambiance that is tailor made to see the greatest works of South Asia. When you walk around, you are greeted by a life like statue of Buddha in a sitting-meditation position. I fell silent because you see the glass behind him and all the foliage, which makes him stand out like he is in a garden meditating. I felt a calm come over me and so did my wife, and we just stared for a couple of minutes. Then we examined the Asian art that the Simon had to offer.

I noticed there are similarities in the way the Indian deities are displayed. They are either in a standing or sitting position, and each statue had a blank or thin smile when you look at their face. Quite a dichotomy from the impressionists, who go for a completely different look. Depending on the god or goddess, they had the face of a human or elephant, or had many hands, multiple heads, or other features that enhanced their humanlike qualitites. Almost all the artwork was from India, and all of it was a representation in one form or another of Buddha, Indra, Shiva or the other main deities in Indian mythology.

I would go back to the Norton Simon museum in a heart beat, but I would have liked more of a representation of the East Asian art of China, Japan, Korea, etc.