Modern Art at Norton Simon Museum
I’ve worked at many different museums and studied a variety of collections but none has ever moved me more than modern and contemporary art. The movement, the colors, the lack of color, the negative space … Whatever it is, it has always evoked a feeling in me.
Modern Art at Norton Simon Museum
Somewhere in the early to mid 1800’s, artists started focusing on the psychology and emotion of their subject and environment. This shift (from centuries of representational work) encouraged the viewer to dig a little deeper forcing them to look at things within themselves to make sense of what their looking at. I mean, how could you look at the Picasso painting below and not recognize that your interpretation is seeped in your own experiences? That’s the beauty of it. You complete the painting.
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Then there are works that are so simple and beautiful, you’re really just left in awe. Brancusi does that to me every time. The work is so meticulous and polished, and perfectly capture the essence of their subject matter.
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Gosh, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped in front of a Sam Francis painting and left with a new meaning of his work every single time. Meaning, as in the way the colors and shapes move me. Sometimes I find myself lost in orange and sometimes I find my way home through blue.
The Norton Simon Museum is where I go to have some one-on-one time with my favorite artists. It’s where I get to explore new meaning in works of art I’ve seen dozens of times. That’s what love about modern art. What you see always changes.
Want to more? Follow me as tour the Norton Simon Museum’s sculpture garden (video).
