The Art of the Steal

The Barnes Collection should be accessible to the public. It was shown – or parts of it – at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto in 1994 and it became the hottest event in town then. It was hugely successful and attracted over 500,000 visitors. Art cannot be elitist and cannot be restricted. One cannot restrict human creativity and imagination any less than human emotional response to beauty.

I often hear people use the phrase “accessible to the greater public.” How is the Barnes not accessible? One simply orders tickets, drives or take mass transit and then enjoy the greatest private collection of art. There are museums across the country that are not that accessible by closure during the winters or lack of public transportation.

Today, the foundation possesses more than 2,500 objects – including 800 paintings – estimated to be worth about $25 billion. These are primarily works by Impressionist and Modernist masters, but the collection includes many by leading European and American artists, as well as ancient works from other cultures.

As a child, I was adminstered Dr. Barnes’ awful Argyrol. I visited the handsome house and beautiful grounds and found that there were no labels on the collection because he wanted people to take his educational art course. Mixed in with the great items were often fakes or lesser works. Visitors had to check their handbags/parcels and were allowed only a sheet of Kleenex to carry in the galleries.
Even after a renovation, the lighting was neither enhancing nor protective of the art.
The neighbors are not happy about the move. Neither are many citizens, especially to less attractive surroundings.

There is a reason Barnes chose to make it an educational collection, still accessible but in a restricted fashion. It helps create it as a destination and place of reflection. When it came to Toronto that was one of the reasons it was a hit, because we knew it was a rare thing. This wealthy collector had more foresight and funding ability than the institutions who now covet the collection. As for the title of this piece The Art of the Steal are you refering to the city of Philedaphia or to Barnes, who bought pieces at market prices of the period in which he lived and supported artists through their careers by purchasing their works and enjoying them, or the City who covets this collection without having had the foresight to create it themselves over the years. Barnes likely thought his foundation could manage it more successfully than a government agency, and have it reflect a interesting private collectors tastes.