Take a Class
Study art history and art appreciation at the Barnes, a leader in art education for nearly 100 years. Our classes take place online and on-site, with new courses on a diverse array of topics curated monthly. Barnes members receive a 10% discount. Online classes make great gifts.
The Barnes Arboretum at Saint Joseph’s University
Visitors are invited to explore the grounds and learn about our rare plants and breathtaking blooms.
Research Notes: July 2019
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes: September 2019
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
May 2021
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
November 2019
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
January 2020
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
March 2020
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
May 2020
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
September 2020
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
December 2020
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
July 2021
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes: December 2021
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
May 2022
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Research Notes:
March 2022
New theories and recent discoveries from the Barnes Foundation's curators, scholars, conservators, and archivists.
Art Education at the Barnes
Learn about art and the Barnes collection from home with online courses.
Art Education Classes
Study art history and art appreciation at the Barnes with a full array of online and on-site classes.
The Barnes–de Mazia Certificate Program
This special track offers an immersion in the Barnes Method and an introduction to other interpretive approaches.
Gift a Barnes Class
Give the gift of lifelong learning with art history classes taught by Barnes experts.
Give the Gift of the Barnes: Tickets, Classes, and More
Give the gift of the Barnes to family, friends, and colleagues.
Barnes from Home: Family Art Time
Kids and their adults can create art and learn from artists and objects in the Barnes collection.
Highlights Tour
This one-hour tour is perfect for first-time visitors. Explore highlights of the collection and learn the history of the Barnes.
Private Collection Tours
Explore highlights of the collection and learn the history of the Barnes. This tour is a private one-hour experience for you and up to seven guests.
Centennial Celebration: 100 Years of Art Education
This year, we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Barnes Foundation with groundbreaking special exhibitions and innovative programs.
Member Introduction: Isaac Julien: Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die)
Enjoy a docent-led introduction to Once Again . . . (Statues Never Die) before viewing the video art exhibition.
August Spotlight Tour: When Art Is Magic
This enchanted journey through the collection highlights our most spellbinding works.
Ancient Greek Art in Context
Instructor: Madeleine Glennon
Members-Only Online Tour: The Barnes Collection
See favorite works like never before, with up-close looks that reveal more about the art and artist.
Toddler Time
Toddler Time is back! Join us for art activities, stories, and an adventure through the galleries.
Members-Only Gallery Talk
Each month, members of our Adult Education team present their ongoing research on the collection to members.
The Traditions of Art
Instructor: Kedra Kearis
Monet and the Instant
Instructor: André Dombrowski
Members-Only Online Tour: When Art Is Magic
A virtual tour through the collection to see how artists like Cézanne, Seurat, and Pippin create their spellbinding works.
Member Orientation
Learn more about the perks of membership at the Barnes and take a guided tour of the collection.
The Elements of Art
Instructor: William Perthes
Collection Concentration: Medieval Modern
Instructor: Kaelin Jewell
Pennsylvania German Decorative Arts
Instructor: Lisa Minardi
September Spotlight Tour: Matisse, Dr. Barnes, and The Dance
Tour our collection of paintings by Henri Matisse and learn how a visit to the Barnes collection was a pivotal moment in the artist's career.
The Elements of Art
Instructor: Kedra Kearis
First Friday! V. Shayne Frederick
Jazz vocalist, pianist, and composer V. Shayne Frederick performs.
Neuroaesthetics: A Public Symposium
Leading researchers working in the field of cognitive neuroscience present on how the brain is affected by creative experiences.
PECO Free First Sunday Family Day: A Philly Renaissance
Tap, jazz, poetry, and more! Today, we look at how the Harlem Renaissance still influences life, art, and culture in Philadelphia today.
Learning to See
Instructor: Kaelin Jewell
The Birth of Fashion in the 19th Century
Instructor: Caterina Y. Pierre
What Is Beauty?
Instructor: Casey Haskins
Orientalism
Instructor: Naina Saligram
Indivisible: Threads of American Art
Instructor: Matthew Palczynski
Conversation: The Barnes Then and Now—Reflections on the Installation
Featuring art historians Dario Gamboni and Martha Lucy, and moderated by Monique Scott, this candid discussion explores Dr. Barnes’s famously quirky ensembles.
Reading: Dario Gamboni on “Learning to See”
The art historian reads from his 2019 book The Museum as Experience, which focuses on the Barnes Foundation as a collector's museum.
Conversation: The Barnes Then and Now—On Our Relationship with Lincoln University
Lincoln University president Brenda Allen and Barnes director Thom Collins explore the institutions' complicated history and promising future. Moderated by Roxanne Patel Shepalavy.
Online Member Orientation
New members are invited to join us online to learn more about the perks of membership at the Barnes.
Members-Only Online Tour: Matisse, Dr. Barnes, and The Dance
Study paintings by Matisse and learn how The Dance reinvigorated the artist in the later years of his career.
Conversation: The Barnes Then and Now—Close Looking at the Education Program
Rika Burnham and William Perthes discuss the “objective method” of looking at art developed by Albert Barnes in the 1920s and what we can learn from it now. Moderated by Monique Scott.
Conversation: The Barnes Then and Now—Reflections on Art and Social Justice
Jane Golden and Val Gay explore the egalitarian beliefs underpinning Albert Barnes’s creation of the Foundation in 1922. Moderated by Roxanne Patel Shepalavy.
October Spotlight Tour: Matisse, Dr. Barnes, and The Dance
Tour our collection of paintings by Henri Matisse and learn how a visit to the Barnes collection was a pivotal moment in the artist's career.
Visual Cultures of Latin America, 15th–19th Centuries
Instructor: David Kim
The School of Paris
Instructor: Joseph Tokumasu Field
Imagining Hell, from Giotto to Grosz
Instructor: Sheila Barker
Chinese Art in the Barnes Collection
Instructor: Xiuqin Zhou
The Painted Garden
Instructor: Christine Stoughton
Matisse and Color
Instructor: Michael Williamson
Art and the Brain: Your Brain on Art
Instructor: Karen A. Baskerville
Modigliani: A Life
Instructor: Matthew Palczynski
European Painting and the Arts of Africa, 1900–1918
Instructor: Naina Saligram
2022 Centennial Barnes Art Ball
Join us for a celebration of art, community, and philanthropy. The Art Ball marks the Foundation’s centennial, tenth anniversary on the Parkway, and the new exhibition Modigliani Up Close.
German Expressionism: Revolution and Resistance
Instructor: Ty Vanover
Sacred Spaces: Objects of Devotion in the Barnes Collection
Instructor: Amy Gillette
Light in Art
Instructor: Kaelin Jewell
Early Modern Artists of Montmartre in the Barnes Collection
Instructor: Al Gury
Seurat: Pointillism or the New Impressionism
Instructor: Kedra Kearis
Exhibition Class: Modigliani Up Close
Instructors: Nancy Ireson, Barbara Buckley, Simonetta Fraquelli, Matthew Gale, Annette King, Margaret Little, Marie-Amélie Senot
Hearing Painting, Seeing Music
Instructors: Hannah Chan-Hartley, Corrinne Chong
Matisse in the 1930s: The Exhibition in Context
Instructors: Camran Mani, Ellen McBreen
Horticulture Certificate Program
Our three-year certificate program covers horticultural science, methods, and design.