History & local legend
The Barnes Foundation’s original gallery in Merion was designed by architect Paul Cret as a place for art education. Classes began in 1925, and founder Albert Barnes arranged its walls in distinctive groupings, placing paintings alongside metalwork and everyday objects such as hinges and kitchen tools.
While the collection was still in Merion, a ghost story circulated about a bearded, shadowlike figure moving through the galleries. People identified him with Barnes, imagining the founder returning to inspect the arrangements he had chosen so carefully. The Philadelphia tourism bureau helped circulate that account.
The collection later moved to Philadelphia, while the original gallery building became the Maguire Art Museum.
