Barnes Foundation

The Barnes Foundation closes its Merion doors in June 2011, reopening in Philadelphia in 2012. Go now.

Giorgio de Chirico,
Portrait of Dr. Albert C. Barnes
                   1926

The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts."

The Barnes website explains: Born in a working class Philadelphia neighborhood in 1872, Barnes received a B.S. degree from Central High School in Philadelphia and, at the age of twenty, his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. He also studied chemistry and pharmacology at the University of Berlin, and at the Ruprecht-Karls-Univerität in Heidelberg, where he befriended German scientist Herman Hille, with whom he invented the antiseptic silver compound, Argyrol, and formed the firm of Barnes & Hille in 1902. By 1908, he bought out his partner.

Barnes's was a great reader in the fields of psychology, philosophy and art - favorites including John Dewey, George Santayana, and William James. He formed theories of his own on art and education, implementing seminars in his factories for the workers. He attended John Dewey's seminars at Columbia University on the scientific method in education, from which a friendship and collaboration grew. The Barnes Foundation was founded in 1922 in order to provide an education in art through the presentation of art. As the website says:

A new force had entered the art world: a self-made man with substantial financial and intellectual resources, combative intensity, relentless curiosity, a keen eye for art, and a deeply-rooted respect for the common man.

Barnes collected an impressive selection of art: more than 150 Renoirs, 40 Soutines, 60 Cezannes; Matisse produced a mural specifically for the entry; and so much more. The building was designed specifically to house the works.

When he died, he left the Foundation to Lincoln University, a college for African-Americans, with the stipulation that none of the work must ever be sold or rearranged. There is an interesting documentary, The Art of the Steal, that gives an account for how and why the collection developed the monetary issues that it did, which have led to its relocation to Philadelphia. It is a wonderfully gossipy story of art world insiders.

The collection was carefully planned and designed for its current location, and I can only encourage everyone to attend while it is still in its out-of-the-way Merion, PA location as despite promises, there is some uncertainty as to how the work will be presented in its new location.