Photos: Barnes On The Parkway
Dr. Albert Barnes' world-renowned art collection, located for 90 years in Merion, opens to the public at its new home in Philadelphia on May 19.
Photos
The Barnes Foundation and its world-renowned art collection, located, until last July, in Merion Station, will be unveiled to the public on Saturday, May 19 at its new home in Philadelphia.
The Barnes Foundation collection—which includes works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and Degas—is estimated to be worth $25 billion.
Collector Dr. Albert Barnes created the Barnes Foundation in 1922 as an educational institution, with the philosophy of making art accessible to ordinary people. He requested in the foundation's Indenture of Trust that his collection never be moved or even rearranged.
In 2002, the Barnes Foundation announced its intention to move the collection to Philadelphia, citing financial concerns. The Montgomery County Orphans' Court approved the petition to move the gallery in 2004, and though legal battles continued, the groundbreaking for the new building was held in 2009.
On May 19, the new Barnes Foundation campus opens to the public, at 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.
“In making this great collection accessible to people from different backgrounds, from every walk of life, and in doing so while keeping the collection intact, we honor the legacy of Dr. Albert C. Barnes and the foundation he created,” Barnes Foundation Executive Director Derek Gillman said at Wednesday’s press preview.
View the photo gallery above for photos from the May 16 press preview and a sneak peak at the foundation's new building.
debsfl
1:41 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
“In making this great collection accessible to people from different backgrounds, from every walk of life, and in doing so while keeping the collection intact, we honor the legacy of Dr. Albert C. Barnes and the foundation he created,” Barnes Foundation Executive Director Derek Gillman said at Wednesday’s press preview.
[This could have been absolutely achieved six miles away in its original location for a third of the cost. Tears for Dr. Barnes on this the grand opening of his stolen collection.]
Joanne Murray
10:32 am on Friday, May 18, 2012
"The building and its grounds incorporate elements of greenery, mimicking the gardens that surround the Barnes Foundation building in Merion" Yes mimicking, that is what this is all about. Destroy the original and give the masses a mimick. Barnes designed his gardens to interact with the art inside so as one looked at a painting inside and then out the window the grounds supported the art. The sad and tacky plant box does nothing to achieve that. Welcome to the McBarnes, may I take your order please?