The Barnes
Foundation is an American educational art and horticultural institution. It was
founded in 1922 by Albert C. Barnes, a chemist who collected art after selling
his company. It was originally located in Merion, Pennsylvania. Due to the
visitor restrictions imposed by the original trust and located in a residential
neighborhood, they relocated to downtown Philadelphia near Rodin Museum.
Barnes
created detailed terms of operation that included limiting public admission to
two days a week. It also prohibits the loan of works in the collection, colored
reproductions of its works, touring the collection, and presenting touring
exhibitions of other art. He wanted to use the art collections primarily for
student study. That is why there are many legal challenges until recently. In
addition to that, it might also restrict the Barnes Foundation's ability to
attract more art lovers.
This brand
new facility opened in on May 19, 2012. You need to reserve the tickets in
advance and get in at the time shown on the ticket. If you visit Philadelphia
and want to visit Barnes Foundation like most of the visitors, then you may no
luck to get in due to limited number of walk up tickets. They have a variety of
famous collections of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo
Picasso, Chaim Soutine, Henri Rousseau, Amedeo Modigliani, Edgar Degas, Vincent
Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, and Claude Monet to name a few. Although they have
very good collections, I do not like the way they present the painting
collections. They hanged many paintings on the same wall, one by one to the
roof. They must do it on purpose because they can plan their new Gallery for a
better way to display their collections. You just can’t really take your time
to enjoy the painting and think of how the masters painted it. They also have a
“do not cross” line, and you can see many people corrected by the “guards” who
are not very polite in doing so. They do provide a card on each room to let you
know the name of each collection but without further detailed information. Each
room has a sitting area, but you just cannot see the paintings due to many
people in the crowded space. If you have an iPhone/iPad or Android device, then
you can save $5 to rent an audio tour by download the audio tour from their
website.
The art is incredible; the building is stunning, as well as the pond and garden is beautiful. In their guidance published on their website, they do not allow drawing, sketching, and photography in the Collection Gallery or Exhibition Gallery. The only thing they should improve is the way they exhibited the collections and how they can improve the visitors’ experience.
The art is incredible; the building is stunning, as well as the pond and garden is beautiful. In their guidance published on their website, they do not allow drawing, sketching, and photography in the Collection Gallery or Exhibition Gallery. The only thing they should improve is the way they exhibited the collections and how they can improve the visitors’ experience.
More photos please click the photo below for larger picture
James Huang - All rights reserved.
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