MiraMira Tours

Barnes Foundation

museum
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The Barnes Foundation is recognizable by its exterior of fossilized Israeli limestone and a glowing, cantilevered light box that appears to float above the structure. Established in nineteen twenty-two by Albert Barnes, a chemist who made a fortune selling the antiseptic Argyrol, the institution was originally conceived as a school rather than a museum. Barnes sought to democratize art, believing that systematic observation of his collection could sharpen critical thinking skills.

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