The Battle of the Bathers
Until September 15, 2025
Explore the clash between Dr. Barnes and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The main room of the Barnes collection, 1942. Photograph by Angelo Pinto, courtesy of the Pinto family. Photograph Collection, Barnes Foundation Archives
Free with admission; on view on the lower level and online
About the Exhibition
In 1933, Dr. Albert C. Barnes purchased The Large Bathers, the crown jewel in his collection of more than five dozen works by French painter Paul Cézanne. However, just four years later, a public feud erupted when a fellow Philadelphia art institution acquired its own version of the Bathers. Insults were hurled in the press, and the quality of each work was called into question. Drawing on archival letters, clippings, and photographs, this exhibition traces Dr. Barnes’s purchase of his Large Bathers, explores the clash with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and exposes the simmering tensions that set the stage for the Battle of the Bathers.
On view on the lower level and online.
Go Further
The Barnes Collection
See art differently. Explore paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Van Gogh, and other artists beside African sculpture, metalwork, and decorative arts. Try our mobile guide!
Mickalene Thomas:
All About Love
The first major international tour on Thomas’s pioneering work.
Our Mission
Archival materials shed light on Dr. Barnes's arts-focused approach to education.