The Norton Museum After the Renovation

The 2019 Foster + Partners renovation turned the Norton Museum of Art at 1450 South Dixie Highway into a different building — new entrance, new galleries, a sculpture garden that opens the museum to the subtropical landscape. The building now breathes in a way the old one didn't.

The permanent collection spans Hopper to O'Keeffe to Pollock. The Chinese art gallery is worth lingering over. The sculpture garden is where families picnic on the lawn and the art lives alongside palm trees and South Florida light rather than behind climate-controlled glass. On weekdays the galleries are quiet enough to have a painting to yourself for minutes at a time.

The courtyard between galleries — palms, a slim water feature, sculptures in shadow — is the moment of pause most visitors blow through on their way to the next gallery. Stop there. It's the building's best architectural idea.