From the NEW YORK TIMES:
The Barnes Foundation’s move from suburban Philadelphia to the center of the city caused art lovers lots of worry…
Others, myself included, did not object to the move per se, but felt that faithfully reproducing the old Barnes in the new space, as promised by the trustees, was a terrible idea. To us it seemed time to at least loosen up Barnes’s straitjacketed displays, wonderful as they often were. And why go to the trouble of moving the collection to a more accessible location when the galleries were not going to be any bigger?
And yet the new Barnes proves all of us wrong. Against all odds, the museum that opens to the public on Saturday is still very much the old Barnes, only better…
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The story of the Barnes Foundation should be a lesson for us all. A generous gift to Pennsylvania by Dr. Barnes got hijacked by the Philadelphia Art Museum, which now charges $18 /visitor. Management of the museum has taken something given to all us and put a high price tag on it so they can enhance and justify their salaries.
Dr. Barnes should have just had the art auctioned and given the money away!