Page 64 - 2017 Travel Guide to California

MUSEUMS & ART
BY JEFF GREENWALD & LAURIE WEED
Celebrating the Human Spirit
Art, science and culture flourish on the Left Coast
NORTON SIMON
MUSEUM
The Norton Simon Museum
began as the Pasadena Art
Institute in 1922 and was
renamed in 1975 for art collector
and museum director Norton
Simon. The museum comprises a
collection of about 12,000 objects
that include paintings by
Raphael, Rembrandt, van Gogh
and Degas, and a significant
collection of Indian and
Southeast Asian sculpture that
spans more than 2500 years.
Above, an art student traces the
lines of a sculpture in one of the
museum’s galleries.
The Golden State is rich in museums, sci-
ence centers and thriving arts scenes, all in
astonishing variety. From the San Francisco
Bay Area to San Diego, you are never far
from a world-class art collection. In addi-
tion, there are museums highlighting
natural and cultural history, science and
technology, and many that celebrate the
diverse cultures of the state’s more than 39
million residents. Whether you prefer to
ogle modern art or antiquities, space shut-
tles or steam engines, you’re sure to find at
least one museum to dazzle you.
The Arts
Visiting LA? It’s easy to spend hours glee-
fully lost in the galleries at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art (LACMA). The
Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) and
Geffen Contemporary showcase the best in
20th- and 21st-century painting, sculpture
and conceptual artwork.
The renowned Getty Museum includes
both the Getty Center, a modern architec-
tural wonder perched atop a hill in the
Brentwood district, and the Getty Villa in
Malibu, which focuses on classical Greek
and Roman art and is styled after an ancient
Roman villa. Pasadena’s Norton Simon dis-
plays a spectrum of European and Modern
artists amid a serene sculpture garden. In
nearby San Marino, The Huntington fea-
tures an impressive library, art collections
and 120 acres of botanical gardens.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art
deserves recognition for its ambitious and
imaginative exhibitions. San Diego’s
Museum of Contemporary Art features a
variety of exhibits in two locations, the his-
toric Jacob building downtown and their
NORTON SIMON ART FOUNDATION. OPPOSITE: MATT MARRIOTT/LA CVB; IWAN BAAN, COURTESY SFMOMA
62 2017 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A