The Art of the Steal (2009)

Directed by

Don Argott

Genre

documentary film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 41m

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 45 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A documentary about the relocation of the Barnes Foundation art collection from its original suburban location to Philadelphia. It argues that powerful people worked for decades to break the will of the founder Albert C. Barnes.

informativeinvestigativecriticalsoberdetailedurgentmelancholic

What happens

The Art of the Steal is a 2009 documentary film directed by Don Argott, about the controversial move of the Barnes Foundation, generally considered to be the world's best collection of post-Impressionist art and valued in 2009 to be worth at least $25 billion, from Merion, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. The move was disputed because Albert C. Barnes, who died in 1951, had specifically selected Lower Merion Township for its location. The collection was moved in 2012 to Philadelphia. The film presents an account of the claimed breaking of Barnes's will, which it presents as a decades-long process that was initiated by Philadelphians who were enemies of Barnes while he was alive, and that was continued by their heirs. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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