The Barnes Foundation

Updated
1 Dec 2016

barnes-yinka-shonibare-2013-11.jpg

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Planets in My Head, Philosophy, 2011. Mannequin, Dutch wax printed cotton, leather and fiberglass, 16 x 16 x 45 inches. Photo by Darryl W. Moran, courtesy of The Barnes Foundation.

barnes-foundation-person-crowd-2016-33-web.jpg

Displacement performance by Tania Bruguera as part of Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie at the Barnes Foundation, May 4, 2017. Photo by Greenhouse Media.

barnes-foundation-person-crowd-2016-21-web.jpg

Installation of Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie, 2017. Photo courtesy of The Barnes Foundation.

barnes-foundation-person-crowd-2016-32-web_0.jpg

Throwing Hexes performance by Ayana Evans as part of Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie at the Barnes Foundation, May 6, 2017. Photo by Greenhouse Media.

barnes-foundation-person-crowd-2016-20-web.jpg

Installation of Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie, 2017. Photo courtesy of The Barnes Foundation.

barnes-yinka-shonibare-2013-02.jpg

Yinka Shonibare MBE, Scramble for Africa, 2004.

barnes-foundation-person-crowd-2016-15-web.jpg

Allan Espiritu, I Fall Deeper and Deeper and It Gets Sweeter and Sweeter, Over and Over series, 2016–17, digital color prints on paper. Photo by Eric Sison, courtesy of the artist.

The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture." The Barnes holds one of the premier collections of post-impressionist and early modern paintings, featuring works by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Modigliani; American masters such as Demuth, Glackens, Pippin, and Prendergast; alongside old master paintings; African sculpture; American paintings and decorative arts; antiquities from the Mediterranean region and Asia; and Native American ceramics, jewelry, and textiles. With a 2013 Project grant from the Center, the Barnes commissioned London-born artist Yinka Shonibare to create new work based on its collection. In 2016, the museum received Center support to present Person of the Crowd: The Contemporary Art of Flânerie, a project featuring a gallery exhibition, newly commissioned installations and performances in unexpected Philadelphia locations, and citizen-created photos and videos capturing city life in novel ways. In 2020, the Barnes received a Center Project grant for Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel, a monographic exhibition on French painter Suzanne Valadon that will consider her under-recognized contributions to early 20th-century art and contemplate themes of female desire and physicality, marriage, and motherhood. In 2021, the museum received a Re:imagining Recovery grant to expand its online learning platform to produce and distribute arts education programs for pre-K–grade-12 students and adults.