Sunday, August 23, 10:15 – 11am
Wols. Light Focus (detail), 1950. The Barnes Foundation, BF2523. © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Free; registration required.
About the Talk
Each month, members of our education, research, and curatorial teams present their ongoing research on the collection to members. These talks are a great way to learn more about your favorite artists.
In art, abstraction is often an artist’s attempt to venture from reality and into the unknown. Our collection features works by early abstract painters including Paul Klee, Joan Miro, and Wols. These modern artists embraced distortion, materiality, and experimentation to expand artistic conventions and interrogate the human experience. Join gallery specialist Lauren Daddezio for an exploration of early abstract works in the Barnes collection and seek the connection between the departure from tradition and the quest for higher meaning.
This talk will be held in the first-floor classroom of the Collection Gallery.
Wols. Light Focus, 1950. The Barnes Foundation, BF2523. © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Go Further
Members-Only Online Tour: Firestorm! Outrage! Dr. Barnes’s Scandalous 1923 Philadelphia Exhibition
Philadelphia critics once panned Dr. Barnes’s collection. Discover the press feud and learn which works remain in the collection today.
Member Previews: Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America
Members are invited to view our newest exhibition before it opens to the public on Sunday, September 20.
Member Introduction: Sky Hopinka: Red Metal Dust
Learn more about Red Metal Dust, a site-specific installation that explores and interrogates the American experience and its histories.