Free Museum Day

This past Saturday was Free Museum Day courtesy of Smithsonian. Kevin and I used this opportunity to visit two local museums for the price of one! The first stop of the day was The Pasadena Museum of California Art. What fun! They had a wonderful exhibit of plein air paintings of the California Missions - though only one etching of my favorite mission - San Juan Bautista (even, with my limited artistic ability, I drew a sketch of the bell tower!). They also had a photography exhibit of Greene and Greene architechture. The museum was nice, but a bit small. I'm glad it was free because the $7.00 per person admission is a bit steep in my opinion for such a small museum.

Next stop was the Norton Simon Museum. I love that place! If you've ever watched the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, you've seen the Norton Simon.

Recognize it? Anyway - if you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend you take advantage of it! Especially if you're a fan of 19th Century art - Degas, van Gogh, Pissaro, Cezanne, etc.
I loved so many of the things we saw it would be very difficult to choose my favorite. I loved van Gogh's Mulberry Tree, and the Degas bronze casts among other things. However, if I were pressed to choose a favorite, this would be it. Both Kevin and I just fell in love with the colors. So much so, in fact, that we bought a print of it to take home. We need to have it framed and then we will hang it over the piano. It matches the colors in our home perfectly!

All in all it was a wonderful adventure. I can hardly wait until next year's Free Museum Day!