"Barnes was irascible, obsessive and rich. He built a collection with more Paul Cézannes than anywhere else in the US, with exceptional early Picassos and room after room of Renoirs. In 1912, he was the first American to buy a painting by Vincent van Gogh, The Postman (Joseph-Étienne Roulin) of 1889. He also acquired Henri Matisse's serene Joy of Life (1906) and commissioned the artist to paint the radiant gallery-sized mural The Dance (1932-33). Nothing else in the US came close."
"Shooting from the hip defined Barnes, a physician and chemist who paid for medical school by winning boxing matches. Frustrated as a doctor but insisting on that title, he studied chemistry and developed a silver-based treatment for gonorrhoeal blindness and other ills. The man backed up his business acumen with threats, bribes and a volcanic temper. He was also multilingual and passionate about the art that inspired him."
Albert C. Barnes accumulated a singular collection of Post-Impressionist and modern art, including numerous Cézannes, early Picassos, Renoirs, van Gogh's The Postman, and Matisse's Joy of Life and The Dance. Trained as a physician and chemist, he paid for medical school by boxing and developed a silver-based treatment for gonorrhoeal blindness. He combined volatile temperament and aggressive business tactics with deep multilingual scholarship and passionate commitment to art. He founded a museum in 1925 that displayed paintings alongside African sculpture, contemporary American works, and Old Masters. He supported democratic education guided by John Dewey and championed racial equality.
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