Barnes Foundation

There I was flipping channels in the wee hours of the morning when I came across Cool Places a series that presents architecture, and this hour it was museums. 

First up was the Barnes Foundation. Founded in 1922 by Dr. Albert C. Barnes as an educational institution, the Barnes art collection has been a hidden treasure for decades. Dr. Barnes collected the "modern" art of the late 19th & early 20th century, the art that hadn't become popular yet. His collection contains the largest number of Cezanne paintings anywhere, along with works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Gauguin to name a few. Jed Perl said, "Nobody else has ever collected the artists they admire in such extraordinary depth as Barnes."

Dr. Barnes' plan was for the art to left just where and how he had placed it, but as of 2012 it has all been moved to a new city and a new "modern" building.
I heard about the controversy while it was happening, but times & things change. So the new building is gorgeous and the collection is intact maybe just not as Dr. Barnes intended, and the building and the collection are still worth our attention if we love art and architecture So maybe I'll plan a trip to see for myself.

"to see as the artist sees is an accomplishment to which there is no short cut, which cannot be acquired by any magic formula of trick." Dr. Albert C. Barnes