Art for Life's Sake: The Barnes Foundation

For most of my life, I had no idea the Barnes Foundation existed. For the most part, or at least, as far as I can tell, if you’re not from the Philadelphia area and/or are not an art historian/uber-enthusiast, you probably have never heard of the Barnes Foundation either.

It's a shame, really, because the Barnes Foundation is home to one of the most significant collections of art in the United States, if not the world. Wait, let me pull from the Barnes Foundation website so I can get it JUST right: 

“An extraordinary number of masterpieces by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse provide a depth of work by these artists unavailable elsewhere.” -- Barnes Foundation Website (link below)

I love 19th and early 20th century art, particularly impressionist paintings. Love love love. Love. The use of colors, the textures of paint on the canvas, the way so many pieces remind me of reflected images on a pond after a pebble has upset the water's cool, glassy sheen. Love. Monet prints still hang on the walls of my childhood bedroom, and I recall my visit to Musee d’Orsay in Paris as an experience that moved me to my very core. 

The collection at the Barnes is, well, it’s almost indescribable. Monet, Manet, El Greco, Seurat, Picasso, the list goes on and on. Each gallery hosts eclectic arrangements of paintings, furniture, brass pieces, and sculpture, layouts designed by Albert C. Barnes himself during the first half of the 20th century, intended to help visitors learn about the art – how movements, artists, and individual pieces are defined, and how art as a whole is an inseparable part of life.

But… and I hate to have a but here…imagine gazing at an El Greco and having to shift around the room in an effort to minimize the glare of the overhead lamp against the varnish of the painting, while also bumping elbows with other visitors sandwiched into a gallery that's just plain too small, despite the use of timed entry tickets. Consider, if you will, that this experience may be furthered marred by echoed whispers  magnified by a seeming ten decibels by the room's poor acoustics. The building itself appears in need of some updating (or at least new curtains) and the layout of the space itself doesn’t lend to the best visitor experience. 

My visit to Musee D'Orsay remains so deeply ingrained in my heart not only for the scores and scores of beautiful pieces of artwork, but for the extraordinary style, the character, the appropriateness of the space itself. I remember it in my mind's eye as almost magical. The Barnes in comparison seems a bit, well, frumpy. 

A visit to the Barnes Foundation made my 30 before 30 because the collection is on the move, or it will be, and I wanted to see the pieces in their original galleries as they were intended to be displayed. Currently, the collection is still housed at Barnes’ estate in Merion, Pennsylvania (which is about 10-15 minutes away from downtown Philadelphia, depending on traffic. And there is always traffic). A new building is under construction in Center City, Philadelphia, which will soon be the foundation’s permanent home.

Now, I am under the impression that when people think about art in Philadelphia, they think of Rocky Balboa, triumphantly running the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I hope that I’m wrong, but when I told people YEARS ago that I was moving to Philadelphia, they said, “oh, Rocky.” Actually, first they said, “WHY,” but that’s because I was leaving San Diego, California, and nobody can fathom leaving San Diego for Philadelphia. Except me, apparently. But Why I Love Philadelphia, well that's a different story for a different day. Where was I again? Oh yes. The Barnes Foundation’s relocation. 

People I’ve spoken with say that they think of New York and the Met when they think of arts on the East Coast. Or they think about the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. They really don’t consider that Philadelphia is home to dozens of independent galleries, the Rodin Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the robust collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, or the Barnes.

The move of the Barnes Foundation is controversial, yes, (you can do a Google if you want to learn more about THAT) and I’m not about to get political up in here, except to say that I think that the move is a positive development that will truly solidify Philadelphia as world-class arts destination – as well it should be.

They don't allow photographs in the Barnes Foundation galleries. So, I suppose I'll just leave you with a website: www.barnesfoundation.org.

I was going to end this post with a random picture of a kitten, but Scott suggested it wasn't the best idea.