Barnes Foundation

The Barnes Foundation is an American educational art and horticultural institution with locations in Merion, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and Logan Square, Philadelphia. It was founded in 1922 by Albert C. Barnes, a chemist who collected art after making a fortune by co-developing an early anti-gonorrhea drug marketed as Argyrol and selling his company at the right time, before antibiotics came into use.

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 other paintings by leading European and American artists, as well as ancient works from other cultures.

In the 1990s, the foundation became embroiled in controversy due to a financial crisis, partially related to longstanding visitor restrictions imposed by the original trust and to the location of its facility in a residential neighborhood. The foundation subsequently decided to relocate the collection, a decision that survived court challenges. Its move from Merion to a site in downtown Philadelphia, on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for enhanced public access, was completed with the opening of the new building on May 19, 2012. The controversy was covered nationally, and a 2009 documentary, The Art of the Steal, argued that the foundation was the subject of a takeover by other non-profit institutions. It asserted that this violated Barnes' will and his desire to keep his collection private for educational purposes and outside the circle of the Philadelphia establishment.