Slow Art Day 2025
Saturday, April 5, 11am – 12:30pm
Henri Rousseau. Monkeys and Parrot in the Virgin Forest (detail), c. 1905–6. The Barnes Foundation, BF397. Public Domain.
Free with admission
About the Event
The Barnes is pleased to participate in Slow Art Day 2025, a global event with a simple mission: to help more people discover the joy of looking at and loving art. Our approach to art education is grounded in careful, prolonged observation and critical thinking, a mission that aligns with Slow Art Day’s focus on the art of seeing.
Buy tickets for 11am on Saturday, April 5, to participate in Slow Art Day.
What’s On
11am – noon
Slow Looking in the Galleries
When you arrive at the Barnes, you’ll receive a list of five paintings for your self-guided slow-looking experience. Spend an hour or so in the galleries looking carefully at these works, then join us in the Herbert and Joyce Kean Family Classroom on the lower level for a 30-minute discussion about your experience.
Noon – 12:30pm
Discussion in Kean Family Classroom
Bernard C. Watson Director of Adult Education William Perthes leads a discussion about the slow-looking experience.
Speaker
William Perthes
Perthes is the Bernard C. Watson Director of Adult Education at the Barnes. His background is in philosophy and art history and his writing on the Barnes Method was included in The Barnes Then and Now (2023). Much of Perthes’s work focuses on how experiences with works of art can impact and inform fields as varied as business, medicine, law enforcement, and restorative justice. He curated Faces of Resilience, a traveling exhibition of original works by currently and formerly incarcerated artists at State Correctional Institute Phoenix.
Go Further
Daily Gallery Talks
Every day, our gallery specialists offer talks about the Barnes collection. Learn more about our history, founder, and collection.
Lecture & Book Signing: Van Gogh with Michael Lobel
Author Michael Lobel discusses his new book Van Gogh and the End of Nature.
In Focus Gallery Talk: Morgan’s Amalfi: Moonlight Pattern
An in-depth discussion about Randall Morgan’s painting with Penn PhD candidate Emma Nell Jacobs. Free with admission; Room 18