In the first room, for instance, Seurat's "The Models" (with a panel from "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte" in the background), above Cezanne's precious "The Card Players," bordered by smaller works by Corot, Rousseau and Maurice Prendergast, with antique wrought-iron bric-a-brac from Spain alongside. As Barnes would have wished, there are no placards giving the provenance of the paintings, only simple labels on the frames identifying the artist by last name; for people who want additional explication, every room has a booklet describing the components of each ensemble, wall by wall.
"The Dance," a mural Matisse painted in 1933 in the Merion mansion, makes an encore appearance above the windows in the first room. Even the south-facing orientation of the galleries reflect that of the old Barnes, as do their corridor-less interconnections. The first floor yields to a second, with Matisse's rhapsodically colored "The Joy of Life" holding place of pride in an alcove off the landing.
