May 2011: Philadelphia Museum Tour

The Barnes Foundation

I first became aware of Dr. Albert Barnes way back in my college Art History courses. Sitting in the dark looking at slides of 20th century art, we kept being shown Matisse's painting The Joy of Life, but always in black and white. The absurdity of viewing the Fauvist masterpiece in black and white was explained by way of saying that the collector never allowed his collection to be photographed in color. Since then, the Barnes name kept popping up over the years as I slowly learned about the man (eccentric to say the least, long dead, and no relation to St. Louis's own Barnes Hospital) and his collection (an estimated $25 billion collection housed in his long-time residence just outside of Philadelphia). The controversy overing breaking Dr. Barnes's will to move the collection to Philadelphia has been well-documented, especially in the excellent documentary The Art of the Steal, so I was glad to be able to see the Barnes Foundation as he intended it to be. The man clearly had his favorite artists so this is the place if you like Renoir (over 100 of his paintings, the largest in the world!), Cezanne, Picasso, and Matisse. One of the most interesting things about the collection is how it's displayed. The paintings cover the walls from waist to ceiling and carefully placed thematically along with metal works, primitive art, sculpture, and furniture. It's a dazzling display, which hopefully will be recreated at the new building on the Parkway (see picture) that will house the collection starting in 2012. The Barnes Foundation is only on view until July 2011 and the second floor is already closed for the move, which means I still have to wait to see The Joy of Life in color (at least in person since the Foundation's board have also broken that rule).

The Rodin Museum

This small museum mainly houses post-humous castings of Rodin's major works. I've seen all of it before in other settings so was glad that entrance was free. It's a nice building also located on the Parkway in between the new Barnes Museum under construction and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Climbing the same steps that Rocky did in the movies made me realize just how huge this museum really is! The current exhibit of Roberto Capucci dresses, called Art into Fashion, was interesting enough for this not-really-into-fashion person. The designer eventually stopped showing on runways and instead made dresses as art (including some that aren't very wearable). Pretty cool!

I spent most of my time though focusing on their large collection of 20th century art. Like the Barnes, they have a large holding of Renoirs and Cezannes, but also numerous Monets. It's a great Impressionist collection!

Even better is their great room of Marcel Duchamp! All of his masterpieces are here, including Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 and The Bride Striped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) (see pics below). Duchamp's final work, Given: 1. The Waterfall, 2. The Illuminating Gas... (see video), has been permanently installed here ever since it's initial revelation shortly after Duchamp's death. So creepy and cool!!!