Editing Albert Barnes (section)

== The Barnes Foundation ==

Barnes established the Barnes Foundation in 1922 as an educational institution whose purpose was art appreciation rather than mere display. His arrangements of paintings, which juxtaposed works by different artists to illuminate formal relationships, reflected theories developed with John Dewey and expressed in books that Barnes authored or co-authored. The Foundation's educational programs, which emphasized direct experience over art historical knowledge, provided the justification for its existence that tax-exempt status required.<ref name="greenfeld"/>

His restrictions on access, which limited visitors and prohibited loans, protected the collection while frustrating the public whose exclusion Barnes seemed to enjoy. His feuds with critics, with art establishment figures, and with Philadelphia society generally demonstrated a personality that accumulated enemies as readily as masterpieces. His refusal to permit certain individuals to visit, and his enjoyment of the power that ownership provided, revealed characteristics that his educational mission did not fully explain.<ref name="anderson"/>

His indenture of trust, which specified that his arrangements should remain unchanged and that the collection should remain in Merion, created constraints that decades of litigation would eventually overcome. The Foundation's relocation to a new building in Philadelphia, completed in 2012 after years of legal battles, fulfilled the public access that Barnes had resisted while violating the wishes his documents specified. The collection's survival, regardless of location, preserves the assemblage that his fortune and taste created.<ref name="greenfeld"/>