Don Argott’s documentary “Art of the Steal” focuses on the embroiled battle over the Barnes Foundation and its amazing gallery outside of Philadelphia in Lower Merion.  

The gallery, which is also a school, was started by Dr. Albert C. Barnes in the first half of the 20th century after he developed a taste for the Post-Impressionist art of Renoir, Degas, Matisse, Picasso, and Cezanne.  Using his fortune, Barnes amassed a collection of the art worth between $4 and $30 billion (depending on who you’re asking) that is unrivaled by even the largest museums in the world. 

The main conflict is whether or not the art should stay in the Lower Merion gallery or be moved downtown.  

Argott pits the cultural and artistic elite against the snubby politicians and the CEOs of Philadelphia’s largest charitable organizations who are trying to turn Dr. Barnes’s wishes that the gallery be used for educational purposes into a tourist trap to make money.

The documentarians and those who speak on behalf of the Barnes come off as one thing, however-snobbish.  They want to keep the Barnes collection in Merion, just far away enough from Philadelphia to keep the low-brow consumers of art away and they resent making money from showing the unprecedented collection. 

As much as they discuss the amazing impact of the 108 Renoirs, 47 Cezannes, etc. never do they discuss how amazing the impact could be on a teenager or young child after seeing the collection.  Dr. Barnes and the artists featured in the collection, in a time of artistic upheavel, changed the very nature of what we define as art.  Ignoring the views of the Royal Academies in France and England and the art critics vehement denouncement, they painted and sculpted things they thought to be art.  Without them, Warhol, Jasper Johns, and Pollock would be considered mere copy machines, rubbish sorters, or finger painters.  

The vision of the cultural elite in this documentary who say they are fighting for Dr. Barnes’s beliefs seem to have reversed course-instead of fighting the Philadelphia Art Elite like their benefactor, they have become part of them-keeping important and beautiful art away from the people who could be most influenced by it.

The New York Times review is here and you can watch the trailer for the documentary here.

-KP