The Barnes Foundation

NOTE: The Barnes Galleries and Arboretum are temporarily closed as the Foundation is in the process of relocating the art collection from its original location in Merion to a new facility on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

The New Barnes

Scheduled to open in Spring 2012, the new location of the Barnes at 20th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will be open to the public six days a week.

The Experience

Visitors from around the world make the pilgrimage to this lovely setting in suburban Philadelphia to savor 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes and 59 Matisses, along with works by Manet, Degas, Seurat, Prendergrast, Titian and Picasso. But that’s just the beginning.

The real charm of the Barnes lies in the way the art is displayed – symmetrically arranged according to size, and often paired with artifacts and furniture (think: African sculpture, Pennsylvania Dutch folk art, antique Chinese paintings) organized around themes and formal elements. The scheme is the physical manifestation of the teachings of the man who collected the works, Albert C. Barnes.

History

The Barnes Foundation was created in 1922, a school originating with Barnes’ educational experimentation in his Argyrol (pharmaceutical) factory. Barnes and The Foundation’s first director of education, John Dewey, were interested in fostering cognitive development through new approaches to education, and in heightening critical-thinking and problem-solving skills through the study of art. Barnes, like Dewey, was actively engaged in development of an intellectual framework and educational philosophies and practices with many of the best artists and thinkers of his day.

In 2004, a court ruling granted permission for the Barnes Foundation’s gallery art collection to move to a new building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Center City Philadelphia.