Barnes Foundation

The Barnes Foundation on Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway holds one of the most extraordinary private art collections ever assembled, including 181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, and masterworks by Matisse and Picasso — roughly 900 paintings in total. Albert Coombs Barnes, a chemist turned passionate collector, founded the institution in 1922 as a radical educational experiment: paintings hang without labels in dense, carefully composed ensembles he arranged himself, designed to train visual perception rather than deliver art-historical facts. His will explicitly forbade moving the collection from his estate in Merion, Pennsylvania, making the 2012 relocation to the current downtown building the outcome of decades of legal battles that drew national attention. The new building by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien meticulously replicates the original gallery room layouts inside a contemporary shell. Open Thursday through Monday, 11 am to 5 pm.