Boston Has Many Great Art Museums and Is Art Itself

We were recently in Boston, Massachusetts for the kick-off of the public art festival, WINTERACTIVE. While in town we had a few days to explore the Art and Museums in Boston, as well as the public art on the streets of the city. Boston is a beautiful city, clean and safe, but also architecturally beautiful from Georgian, to Greek Revival, Victorian and Art Deco to more contemporary. It is a seamless and complimentary mix of muted design. With brick streets against granite facades, it is a city unlike any other we have visited.

There are a number of public art museums to take in while in town, most notably the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. There is even more contemporary fair with the moving and interactive light installations at the WNDR Museum. Art and Museums in Boston are a treasure to explore.

Our first stop was the MFA Boston (Museum of Fine Arts) we visited the Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore exhibition and it did not disappoint. Both artists expressions of nature and organic forms pair well together with paintings and sculpture.  It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas. With more than 1.2 million visitors a year.

The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston is a striking building in the South Boston Seaport District. Since its founding in 1936, the ICA has shared the pleasures of reflection, inspiration, imagination, and provocation that contemporary art offers with its audiences. A museum at the intersection of contemporary art and civic life, the ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is housed in what was the residence of the namesake. A stunning home inspired by Venetian Palazzo’s of Venice, Italy. After years of collecting on a small, personal scale, in 1891 Isabella inherited $1.75 million upon her father’s death and was able to begin collecting on a greatly expanded level. Upon purchasing Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait, Age 23 in 1896, Isabella and her husband Jack decided their ambitions as collectors required more space than their residence permitted, and first began to consider the idea of a museum. The Gardners loved Italy, and Isabella was especially passionate about Venice, where she and Jack would often stay at the Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal. In the summer of 1897, Isabella and Jack traveled through Venice, Florence, and Rome to gather architectural fragments for their eventual gallery. They purchased columns, windows, and doorways to adorn every floor, as well as reliefs, balustrades, capitals, and statuary from the Roman, Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance periods. What happened at the Gardner Museum in the early hours of March 18, 1990—the night that 13 works of art were stolen in the single largest property theft in the world? From Degas to Rembrandt and Vermeer, the thieves departed with 13 of the Gardner’s works of art 81 minutes later.

It’s hard to believe this was someone’s home as the home is an artwork itself, priceless from to bottom and a most unusual and beautiful discovery in Boston.

Finally our tour of Boston Art Museums ended with the WNDR Museum in downtown crossing. Unlike the city’s other traditional artistic attractions, they imagined one without rules about flash photography, touching the exhibits or even velvet ropes. Instead, guests would be encouraged to become an active participant in the work. More than a museum—WNDR is a playful journey that awakens creativity, cultivates community, and leaves you wondering what’s next. WNDR is the ultimate Boston destination to take in 20 installations of awe-inspiring immersive art.

Public Art in Boston – while there are many great museums in Boston, there is also great public art on the street corners of the city. Here are a few public art pieces that held my attention. DOn’t forget to visit the WINTERACTIVE festival, on until March 2025.

Our four days in Boston were filled with Art, Architecture and Museums. The city is incredibly walkable and in some ways a small London with curved facades and blend of old and new architecture.

We were in town for the WINTERACTIVE kick-off. More About Boston and Art.