Monday – August 26, 2013
We skipped down to Philadelphia for a quick visit to the recently opened Barnes Foundation (Museum). We left home Sunday morning and arrived early enough to squeeze in a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the afternoon.
Grand Staircase in The Museum of Art
Here are a few photos I took at the museum while we walked around. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has an excellent collection of American and Asian art.
Grand Staircase in Black ‘n’ White
Asian Art
Since our timed tickets at the Barnes Foundation were for 11 o’clock Monday morning, we planned to stay overnight and visit The Barnes after a leisurely breakfast. Jeff booked a room at the Rittenhouse 1715 Hotel. It was a lovely, relaxing place to stay and is located a half block from the city park known as Rittenhouse Square. The small ’boutique’ hotel is a combination of three Federalist Style buildings in the historic district. A simple continental breakfast was served in the cafe on Monday morning.
The Rittenhouse 1715 Hotel
The Barnes Foundation’s new building was completed and opened to the public last fall. It had been difficult to obtain tickets since the opening. When we checked the website last week, we were surprised to find availability of tickets for Monday, so we booked immediately. They adhere to a strict policy of admittance only at the precise time which was stamped on our tickets.
The Barnes Foundation Building
We were totally amazed by the wonderful collection of paintings at the Barnes. The Foundation owns the greatest number of Pierre-Auguste Renoir paintings in the world. He is my favorite impressionist painter and we were able to see all 181 Renoirs. There are also many paintings by other great European impressionists and modern painters: Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and Amedeo Modigliani. There were also paintings by several American painters, as well as furniture, ceramics, metalwork, jewelry, and African masks. It was truly a very impressive collection!
Outdoor Seating at The Barnes
Main Entrance
Photography was strictly forbidden in The Barnes Foundation, so I do not have any photos of the exhibit galleries. However, the collection can be viewed on their website: www.barnesfoundation.org I highly recommend a visit to The Barnes.