The art scene in Philadelphia is amazing, anchored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its affiliated Rodin Museum, but taken to new heights by the somewhat controversial relocation in 2012 of the renowned Barnes Foundation from Lower Merion, PA to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Barnes boasts the world's largest private collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, with more Cézanne’s than the Louvre and more Renoir's than anywhere. The late Dr. Albert C. Barnes hung his mind boggling collection of art in ensembles, or collections of paintings, furniture, and metalwork displayed in close proximity to teach something about art.
I had a personal epiphany about Dr. Barnes' intent in a small corner gallery on the second floor. In the center of one wall is a glass case full of carved wooden African wooden masks: elongated faces, angular features, almond-shaped eyes. Flanking the case on either sides were twin self-portraits by Picasso with elongated faces, angular features, and almond-shaped eyes as well as a pair of Modigliani paintings with elongated faces, angular features, and almond-shaped eyes. It hit me like a brick: through the similarities in these works of art, Barnes was trying to make the (now obvious) point that art can transcend culture, place, and time.
My favorite Barnes experience was a visit with my Fiancée on a snowy Sunday morning in early 2019. The Barnes opens to the general public at 11:00 AM on Sundays, but members (such as myself) are allowed in an hour earlier. The Barnes is usually packed with humans. On this glorious day, however, between the snow keeping locals away and the members-only one hour early opening giving a jump on visiting non-locals, we practically had the museum to ourselves. When we arrived in the main gallery, for example, there were only four people there: myself, my Fiancée, and two security guards. In the other small galleries on both the first and second floors, for that first glorious hour, we were almost always the only two people there. Magical.
The Barnes Foundation is unlike art museum in the world and must be on the bucket list of anyone who has even the slightest interest in art. You must go to the Barnes. You will leave with a headache from seeing so much magnificent art crammed into a space that, in a normal art museum, would occupy ten times the space used at the Barnes. It will be the best headache of your life and one that you will never forget.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is home to many spectacular works of art, including one of Vincent Van Gogh's famous sunflower paintings, the famous "Nude Descending a Staircase" by Marcel Duchamp, and works by Renoir, Cezanne, Georgia O'Keefe, Picasso, and Mary Cassatt, the Pennsylvania-born Impressionist painter who spent most of her adult life interacting and exhibiting with other Impressionists in Paris. The museum also houses works by Philadelphia-born and raised Thomas Eakins, a late nineteenth century realist painter.
The collection is wide and varied, and in addition to European and American art includes East Asian and South Asian art. Their modern art collection is lovely, too. There is even a collection of presidential dinnerware, including two sets from President Abraham Lincoln: one that was used during his presidency and a second that was commissioned but never used because of his assassination. For kids (or the kid in you), there is a nice collection of medieval armor.
A ticket to the main Philadelphia Museum of Art building also gets you access to the nearby Perelman Building (with smaller more specialized collections) and the Rodin Museum. Make a day of it and go to all three!
A compact but impressive collection of the works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin, The Rodin Museum is affiliated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That means that, if you get a ticket to the PMA, you can also get into The Rodin Museum.