 As much as there is fascinating preliminary material in his earlier writings, Art as Experience raises Dewey’s theorizing about aesthetics and art to a new level. Not only is the density of thought and insight in the later work greater, but the understanding of the arts that it is built on is much more sophisticated compared to the earlier investigations. An important event that significantly contributed to the development of Dewey’s aesthetic thinking was his collaboration with the industrialist and art collector Albert C. Barnes to whom Art as Experience is dedicated. Dewey was a member of the staff of the Barnes Foundation of which he was named director in 1925. Not only does Dewey quote at length from Barnes’ writings on painting, but also many of the art examples in Dewey’s book came from his friend’s impressive art collection. One of the focus points of the Barnes collection is early modernist painting, and Art as Experience includes numerous examinations of the paintings by the leading figures of early modernism, particularly Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, August Renoir, and Paul Cézanne.