Take a Class
We're now offering a greater number of art classes. We also have need-based scholarships to help make art accessible for everyone.
These courses, derived from the teachings of Albert Barnes and Violette de Mazia, focus on rigorous close looking and analysis.
The Barnes-de Mazia Certificate Program
This special track offers an immersion in the Barnes method and an introduction to other interpretive approaches.
The Elements of Art
Learn basic aesthetic principles and discover art’s communicative power by studying directly in the Barnes galleries.
The Traditions of Art
All artists engage with earlier formal vocabularies in one way or another—even the modernists we often think of as turning tradition on its head.
Visual Literacy in an Image-Soaked World: The Barnes Method and Beyond
We live in a world saturated with images. Use the principles of the Barnes method to think critically about the images that surround us—in museums, on social media, and beyond.
Poems and Paintings
Explore the analogies between the visual and the textual. Learn about the various strategies used by painters and writers to create imagery.
Decoding Barnes’s Ensembles
Get a better understanding of why Albert Barnes arranged his collection in such an unconventional way.
The Painted Garden
Explore the visual vocabulary shared by painters and garden designers.
The Intensive Practice of Meditation and Close Looking
A daylong immersion in close looking and meditation. Enjoy the quiet experience of looking at artwork, with Dr. Barnes’s concepts in mind.
Decoding Barnes’s Ensembles
Learn to better understand why Albert Barnes arranged his collection in such an unconventional way in this one-day workshop.