Don Argott talks about how and why he came to make The Art of the Steal. 

"I didn't grow up in the Philadelphia area, so I must confess that before beginning this project, I knew very little about the Barnes Foundation.  The idea for the film came to us from executive producer Lenny Feinberg, someone who lived in the area and believed that the story of the Barnes was one that needed to be told.  As it turns out,  when you do mention the Barnes Foundation around Philadelphia, nearly everyone seems to have an opinion about it.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Barnes, it is a jewel-box of a place tucked away in Merion, PA, and houses some of the most important and amazing post-impressionist and early modern art in the world.  I remember the first time I visited the Foundation, I really didn't know what to expect. What's all the fuss about? As I walked through he main entrance, the place just took hold of me-- it's sensory overload. Floor to ceiling masterworks by Matisse, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, etc.  Aside from being overwhelmed, the next thing I remember thinking was, how is it I've never heard of this place?

We then set out to tell the very complex tale of what this place is, how it got here, and where it's going.  As I soon discovered, there were decades of local animosity, complex legal battles, incredibly large egos and political corruption to wade through to condense into a digestible narrative. I also discovered the real main character of the film, Albert Barnes. Since he died in 1951, his Foundation has been under siege by powerful forces that have had their own agenda.  Since he's been gone for decades, he has been reduced to a name on a building. It was our goal to help bring him back to life and to tell the story through his eyes.

'm incredibly proud of the work we've done on this film. I miss the endless debates in the edit room with Sheena Joyce [producer], Judah Lev-Dickstein [associate editor], Demian Fenton [editor] and Lenny Feinberg [exec. producer]. We were all so committed to making this film the best that it could be and never settling until we knew we had it right. I look forward to finally getting to share it with the audiences."

Click here for screening times for The Art of The Steal.