North America · United States
Barnes Foundation
One of the world's finest collections of Impressionist and early Modern art, including nearly 180 works by Renoir, 69 by Cézanne and Matisse's big mural, hung salon-style on the walls, just as the founder arranged them.
History of the museum
The chemist and businessman Albert C. Barnes, who made a fortune with a medicine called Argyrol, began collecting in 1912 and founded the Barnes Foundation in 1922 as a school, not just a museum. He hung his pictures in groups with African art, furniture and metalwork to teach how to see. After his death in 1951 the collection stayed in Merion, Pennsylvania, until 2012, when it was moved to a new building in Philadelphia, which copied the arrangement of the rooms exactly.
Top pieces
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The Joy of Life (Le bonheur de vivre) Henri Matisse, 1906
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The Card Players Paul Cézanne, 1892
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Models Georges Seurat, 1888
