The Norton Simon Museum Los Angeles Offers Superior Art Work Despite the Lack of Crowds

Somehow, the Los Angeles art world has developed into a peculiar system. Museums like the Getty or LACMA have a reputation of having long queues on weekends. The Norton Simon Museum is located right next to Los Angeles and holds masterpieces of Rembrandt, Raphael, Van Gogh, Picasso and the entire collection of bronzes by Degas. Yet, the Norton Simon Museum Los Angeles remains calm enough to enjoy a solo masterpiece during the weekdays.

And it is definitely your advantage to see the world-class collection without too many tourists around. It has everything for this: it is located right in Pasadena and has never been a museum with blockbuster crowds. Most people searching for Norton Simon Museum Los Angeles do not realize where it actually is.

The Norton Simon Museum Pasadena Location and Address

The Norton Simon Museum address is 411 West Colorado Boulevard, and the Norton Simon Museum Pasadena sits directly at the western end of Old Pasadena on the Rose Parade route.

The Norton Simon Museum Pasadena location means that it is located about a twenty-minute drive from downtown LA, and a short distance from The Huntington, which makes an excellent east side combination. Anyone who searches Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles should know that it is situated in Pasadena.

The Norton Simon Museum Collection and Galleries Overview

The Norton Simon Museum collection is actually two separate collections that have been gathered by a single industrialist in a very short time. The European art works of the museum start from early Renaissance and continue to twentieth century. Here you will find Raphael, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Zurbarán, Goya and Rubens.

The rooms dedicated to Impressionist and modern artists are definitely crowd pleasers, as here you can see Van Gogh, Cézanne, Manet, Renoir, Picasso, Matisse and Degas in great depth. The Norton Simon Museum owns the complete set of Degas bronzes cast from the sculptor’s original wax models. And the second half of the collection is the South and Southeast Asian sculpture collection spanning two thousand years. It is superb and almost always empty.

The Sculpture Garden Out Back

The garden behind the building was recreated in Monet’s Giverny style – there is a pond, water lilies and winding paths. The garden is full of Rodin, Moore, Maillol and Lipchitz bronzes placed outdoors among the plants.

It is a small garden, which is definitely better than a grand one. If it is sunny in the afternoon, this is the most pleasant place to sit in Pasadena at no extra cost.

Norton Simon Museum Tickets and Admission

Norton Simon Museum tickets cost approximately twenty dollars for adults, with discounts for seniors and free admission for students with ID and all visitors under eighteen.

This under-eighteen rule makes the museum visit surprisingly affordable for families. Tickets can be bought right at the entrance without a queue, though buying them online saves a bit of time. Every first Friday evening of the month is free for everyone, and it is definitely the best-value art evening in Los Angeles county.

Norton Simon Museum Hours and Visiting Time

The Norton Simon Museum hours is the information that catches out everyone who plans a visit. This museum closes on two days instead of one, and it means that the visiting hours are Thursday through Monday from noon to 5PM. On Tuesday and Wednesday the museum is closed, and it stays open later on Fridays and Saturdays.

Check the schedule before driving to the museum. It is important because Norton Simon Museum hours start at noon, and it makes this museum an afternoon attraction rather than morning one. Two hours are enough to see the museum, and three are required if you want to pay a visit to the Asian galleries and garden.

Norton Simon Museum Parking and Location

The Norton Simon Museum parking is free in the museum’s own parking lot, which is quite rare and one more reason for making the visit to the museum a nice experience.

It is a small lot but it turns over constantly, and Norton Simon Museum parking is almost never a problem except on free Friday evening and during the Rose Parade season, when it is impossible to park anywhere in this part of town. There are public parking lots in Old Pasadena and the closest Metro A Line stop is in Pasadena.

Norton Simon Museum Events and Programming

The Norton Simon Museum events are modest by design but consistent. These are lectures, curator talks, family art classes, film screenings and the popular free Friday evenings.

All Norton Simon Museum events have a scholarly approach, which is absolutely appropriate for the museum. The gallery talks are definitely worth attending. The museum has a sufficient depth to let the curator spend half an hour on a single gallery and keep the attention of the audience.

Norton Simon Museum Reviews and Visitors Feedback

The Norton Simon Museum reviews are very positive and have one common idea – surprise at the level of collection in comparison with crowds. Many people mention that they saw the Rembrandt or Van Gogh in solitude, which almost never happens elsewhere.

The practical notes mentioned in the Norton Simon Museum reviews are connected with closed days – people try to enter the Norton Simon Museum in Los Angeles on Tuesday or Wednesday but cannot do it. Also, some visitors are surprised by the opening hours. Some visitors think that the museum could be larger, although most think that two hours is not a problem at all.

Building a Day in Pasadena Around It

Practically, Old Pasadena is next to the museum for shopping and food, The Huntington is fifteen minutes away, and the Rose Bowl area is nearby for a walk.

But the pattern comes as always. After a couple of hours of galleries the group had seen and learned a lot and someone – the youngest member or the most restless – is tired. It is time for doing something together.

From Old Masters to the Room That Should Be Taken Apart

It is our part of the day. At Maze Rooms we offer escape rooms all over LA – six locations and more than twenty private rooms – and the drive west from Pasadena puts several of them within reach.

It is the swing that the group needs. An hour in gallery is receptive one – beautiful artworks behind the rope, absorbed in silence. An hour in escape room is the opposite skill – your group inside the world of Egyptian tombs or underwater research stations or Victorian mystery, sixty minutes on the clock and each set built to be handled rather than admired. The paintings will provide you the beauty. The room will provide you the adrenaline.

Why Groups Finish the Art Day With Us

Because the format suits anyone who came. For families – with under-eighteens visiting the museum for free and the Temple of Lost Gold room in Robertson location built in such a way that a nine-year-old child can help – it works perfectly. For birthdays – we hide the gift for the birthday person to find it mid-game, and the reception space accepts the food from outside – there will be a cake after the game. For date nights – affordable museum visit and a private room for two make a perfect evening. For corporate team building – there are half-day and full-day events that beat the conference room.

Every booking is private, you will have the room only for yourselves, no strangers. Prices start from $37 per person. Our escape rooms are open every day from 10AM to 11PM. It covers both the beginning and the end of the museum that opens at noon and closes at five. Five-star reviews at Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor come from years of creating sets and stories with care – the same care that created a unique Degas collection. It is aimed at the hour that you will spend inside.

 

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