From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes
June 29 – August 31, 2025
New perspectives on Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and other modern painters.
Claude Monet. The Studio Boat (detail), 1876. The Barnes Foundation, BF730. Public Domain.
Adults $30; seniors $28 (tickets good for 2 days); students $5; members free
About the Exhibition
Charting a journey through France, this exhibition examines how place informed the work of modern painters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Life in and around Paris and the coastal regions of Normandy and Brittany inspired the radical brushwork, light palette, and contemporary subject matter of impressionists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, their mentor and friend Édouard Manet, and the post-impressionists. Several of these painters subsequently moved to the South of France, seeking the warmer climate and dazzling sunlight that intensified their colors. This exhibition especially highlights Vincent van Gogh’s time in Arles and Saint-Rémy as well as Paul Cézanne’s deep connection to his native Provence. Finally, the show returns to Paris to find a new generation of painters who flocked to the City of Light from across Europe—Amedeo Modigliani, Chaïm Soutine, Giorgio De Chirico, and Joan Miró—and reaffirmed the French capital’s place as the center of modern art.
On view in the Roberts Gallery, From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes presents nearly 50 paintings from the first floor of the Barnes collection, in a display that reflects the expansion of our educational program, emphasizing the objects’ art-historical context. By placing iconic works in new contexts and juxtapositions, the exhibition encourages fresh perspectives.
While the exhibition is on view, the first floor of the Barnes collection will be closed for floor maintenance.
Exhibition Organization
From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes is curated by Cindy Kang.
Sponsors
From Paris to Provence: French Painting at the Barnes is sponsored by:
Ongoing funding for exhibitions comes from the Christine and Michael Angelakis Exhibition Fund, the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, the Lois and Julian Brodsky Exhibition Fund, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Christine and George Henisee Exhibition Fund, the Aileen and Brian Roberts Exhibition Fund, and the Tom and Margaret Lehr Whitford Exhibition Fund.
In addition, funding for all exhibitions comes from contributors to the Barnes Foundation Exhibition Fund:
Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Julia and David Fleischner, Victoria McNeil Le Vine, Leigh and John Middleton, Jeanette and Joe Neubauer
John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Lois and Julian Brodsky, N. Judith Broudy, Elaine W. Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr., Eugene and Michelle Dubay, Penelope P. Harris, Jones & Wajahat Family, Lisa D. Kabnick and John H. McFadden, Victor F. Keen and Jeanne Ruddy, Marguerite Lenfest, Maribeth and Steven Lerner, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, The Park Family, Wendy and Mark Rayfield, Anne and Bruce Robinson, Adele K. Schaeffer, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Donna and Jerry Slipakoff, Dr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark, Joan F. Thalheimer, Bruce and Robbi Toll, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Kirsten White, Randi Zemsky and Bob Lane, Anonymous.