Philadelphia's Barnes Collection to relocate its treasures

When students say they're going to that ambiguous place called "the city," they mean New York; sadly forgetting that other city, Philadelphia, which rests an equal distance from Princeton and should therefore have equal claim on our weekend itineraries. Although it usually doesn't, it's still surprising that the Barnes Foundation, which boasts over five times as many Renoirs and twice as many Cézannes as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a museum which few Princeton students even know exists.

The Barnes Foundation is located in Marion, a suburb just outside central Philadelphia and is home to one of the finest collections of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in the world. Albert Barnes, a doctor, self-made millionaire and art collector, founded the museum in 1922 with the intent that it would serve not merely as a place to house his collection but also as an educational institution to teach everyone, but particularly working class people and African Americans to appreciate and understand art. With the help of educator John Dewey, Barnes developed a curriculum for the Foundation and built a French Renaissance-style residence and gallery to house his collection. He later added a twelve-acre arboretum that can still be seen today.

Walking through the Foundation, one is immediately struck by the number of Renoirs. There are 181 in all, and, despite their beauty, it becomes almost overwhelming to view entire wall displays of plump, rosy-cheeked girls and boys in diffuse light. Yet there are many other artists who have a distinct presence. In addition to the penultimate favorite Cézanne (69 works), there is the third-ranked Matisse, who actually painted a huge mural that features bold yet graceful white figures set against bright blues and reds and adorns the area above the French doors in the entrance gallery.

Visitors can admire an amazing collection of Monets, Manets, Seurats, Bonnards, Van Goghs, Gaugins and other works of French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, as well as pieces by El Greco, Rubens, Picasso, Braque, Miro and a diverse group of yet more artists. The collection also boasts nearly a dozen works by Chaïm Soutine, whose work Barnes purchased with remarkable foresight when the artist was still "starving" and unknown.

While the collection itself makes for a wonderful viewing and educational experience, visiting The Foundation is quite different from a normal museum trip, due to Barnes' precise vision. He curated the entire museum, deciding where and how to hang almost every painting based on his philosophies of art education. He designed wall displays that are comprised of works — usually by several different artists — that echo shared color schemes or other characteristics. To show the influence of African art on Picasso and Modigliani, Barnes carefully selected African masks and displayed them along with the paintings themselves. He also used furniture and decorative metalwork whose shapes echo objects in the paintings and further complement his extremely symmetrical painting placement.

The symmetry and mode of grouping paintings is not an approach that we see much in other museums, and it's sometimes hard to see the uppermost paintings that Barnes had a tendency to hang in several rows above eye level. But Barnes' dedication to art education, which also included teaching classes at the Foundation, ultimately makes both his vision and his artwork displays endearing.

Yet, it might not remain this way for much longer. Although the collection is worth a reputed $6 billion, the Foundation is currently struggling to keep its doors open. Marion Township has put restrictions on the number of weekly visitors allowed and also mandates reservations made in advance. The Foundation has a chance to expand its visibility and, some believe, save its future, by moving to a location in downtown Philadelphia, a move that would be cushioned with a $150 million donation from several Philadelphia area foundations. While this may be the most practical and possibly the only solution to the Barnes' financial problems, it would not only destroy the collection as Barnes' designed it, but it would also disobey Barnes' written instructions that his works of art must all "remain in exactly the places they are."

As the Foundation awaits a ruling from the judge in their recent court case, the Barnes' future in its current location is uncertain. Despite the slightly idiosyncratic arrangement of the collection, it is definitely worth the trip to see a world-class collection of artwork in the context Barnes himself earnestly intended.