I went to the old Barnes with a bunch of my artist friends in 1972, we had decided to go from a bar we were all at in lower Manhattan and arrived at 5 or so in the morning. We slept in the car til it opened and were informed one needed a reservation-- they made an exception. I went I guess about ten years ago when the new museum opened. They didn't allow photos. Now, Here, today I feel I see it for the first time. It is Amazing.
It tells its own story though parallel to most narratives. The Cezanne Bathers is central. And Matisse's relation to Cezanne. There are just so many amazing Cezannes. Barnes misses Picasso. Most Picasso is earlier or periferial. El Greco's relation to Cezanne is plain and how that plays out in Picasso is not quite there, either.
Without Cezanne there would not be a 'Demoiselle', by Picasso. I have never seen Cezanne so clear as the expressionist. And that expressionism applied to a surface, or maybe I should say ruled by the surface. Many traditions flow from there. Pascin is an artist we don't think of much now. I could see Larry Rivers. Interesting how that was of a time.
But then later today at the Philadelphia Museum, Picabia and Duchamp continue that surface into Abstraction.
Matisse's Joy of Life and Dance mural.
Renoir is here also in profusion but for me he is something else. In the Phila. Museum Maillol makes a similar relation to the direction.
Geez this is just a little of what is there. The Cezannes, The Renoirs, Matisses from Nice period, and all the peculiar hangings allows one to see it all freshly. One has to see this museum if one hasn't.
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