Retrospect: 50 Years at the Norton Simon Museum

In 2025, the Norton Simon Museum marks the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1975. The exhibition Retrospect: 50 Years at the Norton Simon Museum, on view in the main-level Focus Gallery from February 14, 2025, to January 12, 2026, celebrates five decades of art, education, research and community. Coinciding with the Exterior Improvement Project, which will transform the Museum’s gardens and grounds, Retrospect offers not only a reflective view of the past but also one of the horizon for decades to come. 

Retrospect opens with the institution’s name change to the Norton Simon Museum in 1975, shortly after Norton Simon assumed management of the Pasadena Art Museum. Rare photos from the Museum’s archives illustrate this moment, capturing the initial installation of Simon’s collections, views of the galleries from the late 1970s and vignettes of the Museum’s earliest staff. Next, a chronology of major acquisitions and exhibitions delves into significant and lesser-known histories from the collections. Finally, a section on the Museum’s building documents the evolution of its campus, from its early years to the renovations of the interior and gardens in the late 1990s. These changes ushered in a period of growth for the institution, coinciding with expanded hours, new scholarship on the collections and greater emphasis on community engagement. Together, celebrate five decades of art in Pasadena by looking back––and ahead––in Retrospect.