The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia

Albert Barnes was a wealthy scientist who began collecting art in the early years of the twentieth century.  In 1925 the Barnes Foundation opened in Merion, Pennsylvania as an art gallery and educational institution.

And then almost fifty years ago Nancy visited the foundation.  It was in what appeared to be a grand mansion in the country.  Wandering the rooms and admiring the paintings, she saw a nice-looking man of about her age sitting on some steps beneath a display of his own paintings.  Nancy soon realized that he was Jamie Wyeth, the son of Andrew Wyeth and a fine painter in his own right.  Jamie smiled at her, as well he might, she being a fine young thing at the height of her powers.  Nancy remembers thinking that he was really hot, but she - shy in those days and worried that he would ask her about his art - fled.  Opportunity missed.

In 2012 Barnes' magnificent collection was moved to beautiful and modern new quarters in Philadelphia, and we drove into the city to see it.  We were told that the rooms and paintings have been arranged just as they were in the original museum.

I'm a big fan of the impressionists and post-impressionists who exploded on the European art scene at the turn of the twentieth century - in particular Pierre-Auguste Renoir but also Paul Cezanne and Paul Gauguin.  The Barnes collection includes 181 paintings by Renoir, 69 by Cezanne, and a few by Gauguin, as well as 46 by Picasso (the earlier and more-to-my-taste Picasso) and others by Van Gogh, Modigliani, Monet, Manet, Degas, Matisse, and many other masters.

It's estimated that Barnes' collection is worth around 25 billion dollars.  And yet the public is allowed to get up close and personal with these treasures.  The paintings are arranged in a series of rooms in what appears to be a casual, haphazard manner, almost as if you were in someone's home, and you can get close, but if you step over that line on the floor just over two feet from the wall, an attendant will shoo you back.

Why do I like Renoir?  Well, there are the nudes ...

... but also look at this study of two young girls.  His work is just so damn pretty.

And not just Renoir.  This is one of the "Card players" series by Cezanne.

Because these are artists I have long admired and because the setting is so welcoming, the Barnes Foundation ranks as my favorite art viewing experience of all time.