When travelers tell us they plan to spend a week in New York, our initial response is to suggest that a 10-day visit to Boston and New York City would be ideal. For art lovers, Boston is a relaxed place to contemplate “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” (shown above), the monumental mural Paul Gauguin painted on heavy burlap in Tahiti between 1897 and 1898.
Gauguin’s masterpiece is displayed among other iconic works of art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which also owns 35 oil paintings by Claude Monet and the world’s most comprehensive collection of John Singer Sargent’s oeuvre. Founded in 1870, the Museum of Fine Arts moved in 1909 to its present location near the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum — a fine example of Venetian Gothic Revival architecture with an enchanting glass-covered garden courtyard, the first of its kind in the United States.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
In the 1890s, Isabella and John Gardner realized that their home on Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood was too small to house their growing collection of art, which included Fra Angelico’s “Assumption and Dormition of the Virgin” (below left), paintings by Botticelli, Titian, Velázquez and Sargent, and a drawing by Michelangelo. Following John’s death in 1898, Isabella purchased land in the marshy Fenway area to realize the couple’s shared dream of building a museum to house their art treasures. The museum (below right) was completed in 1901 in the style of a 15th-century Venetian palace and opened to the public two years later. 13 artworks (including Vermeer’s “The Concert” and Rembrandt’s only known seascape, “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee”) were stolen from the Gardner Museum in 1990. A $10 million reward remains in place for information leading to the recovery of the art, as this crime remains unsolved.
Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1629 by Rembrandt van RijnWoman with a Rose, 1639 by Anthony van Dyck
The Gardner’s Courtyard (left) & Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, 1503 by Raphael (right)Virgin with Sleeping Child on a Parapet, 1470 by Giovanni Bellini (left) & Virgin and Child on a Parapet, 1447 by Francesco Francia (right)El Jaleo, 1882 by John Singer Sargent
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Founded in the capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1870, the Museum of Fine Arts (abbreviated as the “MFA Boston”) is the 20th-largest art museum in the world (measured by public gallery area). More than 8,000 paintings are on display in the MFA Boston, which possesses one of the most encyclopedic collections in the United States consisting of 450,000 works of art.
The “Portrait of Roswell Gleason” 1848 (above) by Edward Dalton Marchant is displayed in the museum’s rooms from the Roswell Gleason House — built circa 1840 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The formal Dining Room (in the background) and a sitting room were purchased by the MFA Boston in 1976 from a descendant of Gleason, a prosperous pewter manufacturer. The acquisition of these two rooms represents a most auspicious use of the museum’s Period Room Restoration Fund — the Roswell Gleason House burned in 1982.
Branch Of Apple Blossoms Against A Cloudy Sky, 1867 by Martin Johnson Heade
Art of the Americas Wing
Isabella and the Pot of Basil, 1897 by John White Alexander (left) & Study for Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, 1885 by John Singer Sargent (right)
An Artist in His Studio, 1904 by John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
Mrs. Fiske Warrenand Her Daughter Rachel, 1903 by John Singer Sargent
Detail from The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (left) and Helen Sears, 1895 (right) by Sargent
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882 by John Singer Sargent
Sunset, Black Rock, Connecticut, 1861 by Martin Johnson Heade
Martin Johnson Heade
Magnolia Grandiflora, 1885 by Martin Johnson Heade
A Modern Magdalen, 1888 by William Merritt Chase
Gloucester Mackerel Fleet at Sunset, 1884 by Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Boys in a Pasture, 1874 by Winslow Homer
The Fog Warning, 1885 by Winslow Homer
Long Branch, New Jersey, 1869 by Winslow Homer
Starting Out After Rail, 1874 (above) by Thomas Eakins
Two Seascapes, 1848-55 (above) by Fitz Henry Lane
Cayambe, 1858 by Frederic Edwin Church
Seascapes of Battles during the War of 1812 (above), painted in 1813 by Thomas Birch
Still Life with Azaleas and Apple Blossoms, 1878 by Charles Caryl Coleman (left) and a Dragonfly table lamp (above right) from 1905 by Clara Driscoll, chief glass designer at Tiffany Studios
Sunset on Long Beach, 1867 by Martin Johnson Heade
Colonial America & the War for Independence
History buffs will find the finest collection of Colonial-era furniture and paintings at the MFA Boston. One of the turning points during the American Revolutionary War (1775 — 1783) came on the morning of December 26, 1776 after General George Washington led his troops across the frozen Delaware River at night to surprise the enemy’s forces at Trenton, as depicted by Thomas Sully in 1819 in “The Passage of the Delaware” (below). You will notice that Sully calls attention to people of color who participated in the American Revolution by including William Lee, an enslaved man, on horseback at right.
The Passage of the Delaware, 1819 by Thomas Sully
John Quincy Adams, 1796 by John Singleton Copley
Copley’s portraits from the 1770s include Gilbert DeBlois (above left) and Mrs. William Coffin (right)
John Singleton Copley
More than 60 paintings by Copley (1738 — 1815) are normally on view at the MFA Boston, including the portrait of “Mrs. Richard Skinner” (below) from 1772.
Vase of Flowers, 1864 by John La Farge
Jewelry cabinet by Herter Brothers from 1870-90, New York
Eleanor, 1907 by Frank Weston Benson
Meadow Lands, 1890 by Dennis Miller Bunker
The Yellow Room, 1910 by Fredrick Carl Frieseke
Ready for the Ride, 1877 by William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
Reflections, 1892 by William Merritt Chase
Ellen Mary in a White Coat, 1896 by Mary Stevenson Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt
Caresse Maternelle, 1902 by Mary Stevenson Cassatt
The Tea, 1880 by Mary Stevenson Cassatt
Charles River and Beacon Hill, 1892 by Childe Hassam
Childe Hassam
At Dusk, 1885-86 by Childe Hassam
Italo-American Celebration, Washington Square, 1912 by William Glackens
Springtime in France, 1890 by Robert Vonnoh
Nocturne in Blue and Silver: The Lagoon, Venice, 1879-1880 by James McNeill Whistler
James McNeill Whistler
Little Rose of Lyme Regis, 1895 (left) & Harmony in Flesh Color and Red, 1869 by J. McNeill Whistler
Landscape, 1890 by Philip Leslie Hale
Philip Leslie Hale was among the first American artists to travel to Giverny, France, to work alongside Claude Monet. Beginning in 1888, Hale spent several summers in Giverny. He advised Monet to visit the USA to “try his hand” at painting the rapids at Niagara Falls.
BELOW: Valley of the Creuse (Gray Day), 1889 by Claude Monet
A Superb Collection of Impressionism at the MFA Boston
Poplars at Giverny, 1887 by Claude Monet
Valley of the Creuse (Sunlight Effect), 1889 by Claude Monet
Rouen Cathedral, 1894 by Claude Monet
Valley of the Petite Creuse, 1889 by Claude Monet
Grainstack (Sunset), 1891 by Claude Monet
Entrance to the Village of Vétheuil in Winter, 1879 by Claude Monet
Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, 1885 by Claude Monet
Lighthouse Walk at Biarritz, 1906 by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida
Peaches and Pears, 1885 by Paul Cézanne and Poplars on the Banks of the Epte, 1891 by Monet
Bridge in the Mountains, 1898 by Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin
Mary Sears, 1878 (left) by Léon Bonnat and In Memoriam, 1861 (right) by Alfred Stevens
Women of Paris: The Circus Lover, 1885 by James Tissot
Pears on a White Plate, 1879-80 by Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne
Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair, 1877 by Paul Cézanne
Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888 by Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Portrait of Madame Roulin, 1889 by Vincent van Gogh
Louis Bonnier, 1903 by Theodore van Rysselberghe
European Art
The Crucifixion; TheRedeemer with Angels; Saint Nicholas and Saint Gregory, 1311-18 by Duccio di Buoninsegna
Christ Blessing, 1481 (left) by Hans Memling & The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, 1340 (right) by “Barna da Siena”
The Nativity and the Annunciation to the Shepherds, 1336 by Bernardo Daddi
A mural by John Singer Sargent atop the staircase (above left) and Virgin and Child with Saints Jerome and Nicholas of Tolentino, 1523-24 by Lorenzo Lotto
Phineas and the Sons of Boreas, 1695 by Sebastiano Ricci
Devout Men Taking the Body of Saint Stephen, 1776 (above center) by Benjamin West
Apostle Matthew, 1620 (left) by Anthony van Dyck and The Crucifixion, 1610 by Peter Paul Rubens
Portrait of a Young Married Couple, 1621-22 by Jacob Jordaens
Self-Portrait as Icarus with Daedalus, 1618 by Anthony van Dyck
View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam, 1667-70 by Jan van der Heyden
Portrait of a Woman with Arm Akimbo, 1620 by Frans Hals
Detail from Still Life with Fruit, Wanli Porcelain, and Squirrel, 1616 by Frans Snyders
A 1717 Model of the ship Valkenisse (above & below) owned by the Dutch East India Company
Portrait of a Woman Wearing a Gold Chain, 1634 by Rembrandt van Rijn
Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, 1632 by Rembrandt van Rijn
A 17th-century Dolls’ House from the Netherlands
View of Rotterdam, 1700 by Cornelis Boumeester
Luis de Góngora y Argote, 1622 by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez
The Nativity (above left) by Tintoretto & works by Titian, Murillo, El Greco & Zurburán (left to right)
Mrs. Edmund Morton Pleydell, 1765 by Thomas Gainsborough
The Special Exhibition on J.M.W. Turner Closes on July 10, 2022
Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, 1835 (above) by J.M.W. Turner
The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 1843 by J.M.W. Turner
Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water, 1840 (above) by J.M.W. Turner
“If I were reduced to rest Turner’s immortality upon any single work, I should choose this.” John Ruskin, English art critic
Ruskin was referring to the 1840 painting (above) by Joseph Mallord William Turner entitled “The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On)” the centerpiece of “Turner’s Modern World” — a special exhibition presented at the MFA Boston from March 27 through July 10, 2022.
J.M.W. Turner drew inspiration for “The Slave Ship” from two 18th-century sources: a poem describing a slave ship caught in a typhoon, and the true story of the “Zong” — a British ship whose captain had thrown overboard sick and dying enslaved people so that he could collect insurance money only available for those “lost at sea.” This landmark exhibit (co-organized with Tate Britain which boasts the largest collection of Turners) brings together more than 100 drawings, paintings and watercolors by J.M.W. Turner (1775 — 1851), considered one of Great Britain’s greatest artists.
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament, 1835 (above) by J.M.W. Turner
Eruption of Vesuvius with Destruction of a Roman City, 1824 by Sebastian Pether
Wieńczysława Barczewska, Madame de Jurjewicz, 1860 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Belcolore, 1863 (left) & Bocca Baciata, 1859 (right) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Painter´s Honeymoon, 1864 by Frederic Leighton
Detail from Pigment Seller in North Africa, 1891 by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Hannah by Isidor Kaufmann (left) & Woman and Flowers, 1868 by Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Odysseus and Polyphemus, 1896 by Arnold Böcklin
Flower Vase designed by Emile Reiber, France 1863-76
Moorish Bath, 1870 by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Antiquities, Asian & Islamic Art
Two Statues of Hercules, Roman Imperial period, 2nd century AD (left) and 1st century BC (right)
King Menkaura, the goddess Hathor and the deified Hare nome, 2490-2472 BC Egypt
Head of King Menkaura, 2490-2472 BC (left) and Statue of Osiris, 664-525 BC (right) Egypt
Striding Lion, 604–561 BC, Assyria
Sho Kanon, 1269 from the Kamakura period, Japan
Miroku, 1189 from the Kamakura period, Japan
Jin Dynasty, 1200
Yuan Dynasty, late 13th-14th centuries, China
Brush Holder, 1736 (left) and Saucer, 1850 (right), Qing Dynasty China
Ming Dynasty, China
Design on a Canoe Paddle, Papua New Guinea, late 19th century
Tile Lunette, 1570 from Iznik, Turkey
Modern Art at the MFA Boston
Summer Night’s Dream (The Voice), 1893 by Edvard Munch
Dos Mujeres, 1928 by Frida Kahlo. Picture by Sharon Mollerus
Double Portrait, 1946 by Max Beckmann
Detail from Number 10, 1949 by Jackson Pollock
Deer’s Skull with Pedernal, 1936 by Georgia O’Keeffe. Photo by Almond Butterscotch
A Sunflower from Maggie, 1937 by Georgia O’Keeffe
John, 1st Baron Byron, 2013 by Kehinde Wiley. Photo by Peter E
Cross Pollination, 2019 (above) by Judith Schaechter
Enjoying the City of Boston
Beacon Hill
Commonwealth Avenue
Public GardenDating from 1634, the Boston Common is the oldest city park in the USA
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