The Barnes Foundation houses one of the world's great collections of modern European paintings, with numerous works by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Modigliani.

Highlights Tour This one-hour tour is perfect for first-time visitors. Explore highlights of the collection and learn the history of the Barnes.

Matisse called it the only sane place in America to view art.

$30 billion His collection includes more than 40 works by Matisse, 60 by Picasso, and no fewer than 180 by Renoir. Yet Barnes never paid more than $100,000 for a painting. His trove of more than 2,500 works is currently valued at an astonishing $30 billion (the approximate worth of the entire Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).

Le bonheur de vivreHenri MatisseThe Dance IIHenri MatisseThe Card PlayersPaul CézanneMont Sainte‑Vict... seen from B...Paul CézanneAt Montrouge ( Rosa la Rouge)Henri de Toulouse-LautrecDeux fillettes, fond jaune et rougeHenri Matisse Barnes Foundation/Artworks

USD5 - USD30 ⋅ barnesfoundation.orgBarnes Foundation / Tickets

The Barnes Collection Explore paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Van Gogh, and other artists beside African sculpture, metalwork, and decorative arts. Try our mobile guide!

Art is everywhere, and everywhere is art. Art is a sense of magic. Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.

Le bonheur de vivreHenri MatisseThe Dance IIHenri MatisseThe Card PlayersPaul CézanneMont Sainte‑Vict... seen from B...Paul CézanneAt Montrouge ( Rosa la Rouge)Henri de Toulouse-LautrecDeux fillettes, fond jaune et rougeHenri Matisse Barnes Foundation/Artworks

Ezra and David Nahmad – Value of Collection: $3 billion These brothers own the most valuable art collection in the world, yet, ironically, are not art lovers themselves. The Nahmads are businessmen through and through and the name of their game has a singular goal – selling for a profit.

Barnes (1872–1951) chartered the Barnes in 1922 to teach people from all walks of life how to look at art. Over three decades, he collected some of the world's most important impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern paintings, including works by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso.

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle. “No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.”