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Arts & Entertainment

In Merion, Saying Goodbye to the Barnes

The Barnes Foundation in Merion will close its galleries on July 3.

After nearly 90 years in Merion, Albert Barnes’ world-renowned art collection is today down to its last month on Latches Lane. 

For visitors these days, it’s clear that the end is nigh.

In the building’s first floor gallery, Barnes’ painstaking arrangements of Renoirs, Piccasos, Soutines and Cezannes are, in a number of locations, interrupted by sporadic sections of blank wall space. Small manila cards give the title of each missing piece—perhaps 20 in all, and most of them Renoirs—explaining that the paintings have been removed for renovation purposes. 

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These and other signs of the times—the closing of the second floor gallery, the move of several administrative offices to Philadelphia—remind visitors of the pieces’ imminent move to a new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. 

Click here to read more about the closing of the Barnes Foundation on Ardmore Patch.

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