The Barnes Foundation 2011

On Wednesday we took a little trip to Merion, PA to The Barnes Foundation to see one of the world's best collections of art from the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and Modernists which was a private collection of Dr. Albert Barnes at his residence in the affluent suburb of Philadelphia. We've had the appointment for two months after seeing the documentary "The Art of the Steal" and I've been counting the days until I could see it in person!  Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Seurat, Matisse, Bonnard... too many to list!!! (You can see on the website). Unfortunately the second floor was already closed as they are preparing to move the whole collection (against the will of Dr. Barnes) to a new museum in downtown Philadelphia. The documentary is a must-see and if you are in Pennsylvania, you should really go see the works when it opens again next year. It is renowned as a collection better than any museum and is worth billions. Dr. Barnes collected the pieces during the time when these artists were not known yet and also when the Philadelphia art community thought they were terrible... which is why he didn't want them to get possession of them after his death. He created this residence as an art school and displayed the pieces as they complimented each other on the wall instead of putting them up by period. We wanted to see it in it's original setting-- more cozy and personal than in the big museum. My jaw dropped every time I walked into a new room! We bought the catalog book of all the works and I hope to go to the new museum to see the whole collection. The docents were saying May of 2011 but Craig knew the project was delayed because he knows the Cisco guy who has the account (it's nice to be on the inside of information sometimes!).  The Barnes sits on a 12 acre arboretum and gardens and the weather was gorgeous!

 I wish I could have taken photos inside but it wasn't allowed. The outside was beautiful though.
This is a "monkey tree" which looks like a regular evergreen until you get close...

My two cuties in front of a beautiful hydrangea bush...

Before heading home, we decided to go to dinner at Terrain which is one of my favorite places. They are very creative with the menu and the food is always so fresh and mostly local.

Now I have some postcards to send!  We are getting company in again in a couple days so it's back to cleaning and laundry for me.