Philly Dreamworld

Henri Rousseau Barnes Museum
The Henri Rousseau exhibition culminates in a room uniting three of his large canvases that had the greatest impact on his proto-surrealist reputation. 'The Sleeping Gypsy,' from 1897, is the most recognizable; its dreamlike atmosphere features a lion hovering over a sleeping figure with a stringed instrument beside her, and a river and mountains in the background. Photo: Courtesy of the Barnes Foundation
Marion Maneker
November 14, 2025

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Philadelphia is now hosting three major art-world happenings—and that’s not including the spectator sport of the board-vs.-director battle at the Philadelphia Art Museum. But that institution is where Dreamworld, the 100th anniversary show of surrealism that has been touring Europe, is making its only American stop, which makes it a major event. Elsewhere in the city, the Barnes Foundation is presenting Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets, which highlights the institution’s large holdings of the painter’s work and brings many important examples together for the first time. Then there’s the recently opened Calder Gardens, which is a tribute to one of the city’s native sons, Alexander Calder.