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Originally Posted by MarketStEl
It is true that Barnes had a major beef with Philadelphia high society, especially after it dissed his art collection when he unveiled it in the gallery he built for it. It is therefore quite possible, given what we know about Dr. Barnes' own eccentricity, that his stated desire to reserve the art for the working people, like his decision to have control of the Barnes board pass to the Lincoln University trustees upon de Mazia's death, is as much motivated by his desire to poke his fingers in the eyes of the Proper Philadelphians he lived among as it is any altruistic sentiment.
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Actually, Philly society dissed him before that; he showed his collection at PAFA in 1920 (IIRC). It was only after the newspapers went out of their way to ridicule him that he decided to build the museum in Merion, start the foundation, and strictly control access.
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Even in the 1920s, when he built the gallery on the grounds of his estate in Lower Merion, Philadelphia's working people really didn't have access to the site of his art collection. It is not that far from Merion station on the Main Line, true, but working folks rode the trolleys then, and the trolleys didn't pass quite as close to the site. So if your argument is that the Lower Merion site works against Barnes' stated desire to expose working people to his collection and theories, then your argument is as applicable when Barnes built his gallery as it is now.
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It's literally a two-block want from the suburban rail station to the museum, and Dr Barnes was extremely generous when it came to helping people out with transportation. During his lifetime, the greater proportion of people who went through the Barnes program were working class.
If people think that the Pew "saving" the Barnes is ironic, don't forget that the Annenberg Foundation is contributing a large amount, too. Back in the 60's it was Walter Anneberg (and the Inquirer, which he owned) which established public access to the Barnes through a series of lawsuits which cost the Foundation a fair amount.
Dr Barnes always wanted to be accepted and recognized for his foresight and brilliance in collecting. The bitterness he's famous for, which shaped his decisions from 1930 to his death in 1955, was a result of his early treatment in the city. Six months before he died, his plans were to leave the collection to U of P. They did something which annoyed him, so he changed his will (he'd done this many times in the past with other institutions and several times with Penn), so it's hard to judge what his intentions were.
Ultimately, I think having the fuss that's been made over him for the past couple of decades and having a museum built for his collection (using other people's money!) in a prime location on the Parkway would make him extremely happy, as it means he's finally been accepted by Philly on his own terms.