Definition of barnstorm (bärn’ stôrm): To travel around the countryside making political speeches, giving lectures, or presenting theatrical performances.

Definition of Barnes-storm (bärnz’ stôrm): To tour the new Barnes Foundation museum in ninety minutes flat.

By now, you have probably heard about the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes and his multi-billion-dollar art collection that was, up until a few months ago, housed in a mansion in the Philly suburb of Merion.  The eccentric Doctor filled the walls with works by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse.  Plus some Picasso and Van Gogh thrown in for good measure.  Oh, and a smattering of Bonnard, Degas and Miró.  He [in]famously arranged the pieces in unusual “ensembles” that spanned different periods and styles, which I witnessed during my one visit there when I was very young.  To make a long story short, after a protracted legal battle, his collection was (finally) cleared to move to a prominent location in the City of Brotherly Love.

Last week I had the opportunity to tour the new museum designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

Along Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The building itself is elegant and serene.  The primary material for the exterior façade is “limestone…that was quarried in Israel, and cut and hand finished in Palestine.”

The entrance: clean and understated.

Lines and angles, skyward.

Light boxes and building blocks.

View of the wooden windows from the Parkway, with two trees as goal posts.

The building is seeking LEED® Platinum certification, the gold standard for green design and construction. The Barnes would be the first cultural institution in the Delaware Valley to achieve that status.

Color creeps up.

My mom standing at the entrance.

No photography is allowed in the galleries, but as art critic Roberta Smith wrote in the New York Times, “The Merion building and its 24 galleries, and Barnes’s arrangements within them, have been recreated with amazing fidelity in terms of proportions, window placement and finishings, albeit in a slightly more modern style. The structure is oriented to the south, exactly as in Merion; the same mustard-colored burlap covers the walls; the same plain wood molding outlines doors and baseboards.”

Geometric glass installation in the lobby.

Guess you’ll just have to go and see for yourself.

The Barnes Foundation | 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway | Philadelphia, PA 19130 | 215.278.7000 | barnesfoundation.org