Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston houses one of the world's most remarkable collections.
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Don't have a crew to cheer for at the Head of the Charles this weekend? Consider taking requests—like Isabella. 🚣In 1890...
10/16/2026

Don't have a crew to cheer for at the Head of the Charles this weekend? Consider taking requests—like Isabella. 🚣

In 1890, Isabella and Jack spent a week at England's Henley Royal Regatta, watching the races from a houseboat named "Sunbeam" on the River Thames.

During the competition, supporters of Oxford's Balliol College Boat Club approached Isabella and her friends to ask if they wouldn't mind shouting “Well rowed, Balliol!” as their crew passed.

They'd come to the right boatful of Americans.

Isabella loved sports of all kinds. Well into her 70s, she was known to drag anyone she could to Red Sox games. And she cheered so enthusiastically at her great-nephew's competitions that even he—the first Harvard athlete to earn 11 varsity letters—once asked her to tone it down.

Their friend Ralph Curtis was there too, and painted this watercolor of the regatta. You can find it hanging in the Museum's Vatichino—though you'll have to imagine the cheering.
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🎨 Ralph Wormeley Curtis, *Henley: The Regatta*, 1890. Watercolor.

Chrysanthemums bloom with the autumnal equinox, a fleeting moment when day and night stand in perfect balance. Their bri...
10/14/2026

Chrysanthemums bloom with the autumnal equinox, a fleeting moment when day and night stand in perfect balance.

Their bright colors and playful shapes are the perfect antidote to Fall's fading light.

Come by for a floral pick-me-up now through the end of November.

Do you find your midnight dreary? Do you ponder, weak and weary? 🐦‍⬛Here's a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore...
10/13/2026

Do you find your midnight dreary? Do you ponder, weak and weary? 🐦‍⬛

Here's a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore: Isabella's copy of "The Raven" — but wait, there's more!

Published in 1875, this edition of Poe’s famous poem features a series of striking lithographs by a most unexpected artist: Édouard Manet.

🔎 Read Isabella's edition yourself: go.gardnermuseum.org/4hVhVov
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📘: Edgar Allan Poe (Boston, 1809 - 1849, Baltimore) The Raven [Le corbeau], 1875

Each spring, our Horticulture team begins an intricate process to grow magnificent, single-stem chrysanthemums using oki...
10/12/2026

Each spring, our Horticulture team begins an intricate process to grow magnificent, single-stem chrysanthemums using okigu, a Japanese horticultural technique rarely practiced in the U.S.

Months of meticulous care, including prudent pinching and disbudding throughout the growing season, encourage the plant to produce one colossal blossom atop a single stem over four feet tall.

🔗 Discover the full story of Chrysanthemums at the Gardner: go.gardnermuseum.org/3XG4sH6

🔎 Searching for Answers: Isabella’s Native American Basket Tucked away in the Macknight Room is one of only two Indige...
10/11/2026

🔎 Searching for Answers: Isabella’s Native American Basket

Tucked away in the Macknight Room is one of only two Indigenous North American objects in the Gardner Museum: a decorated, woven basket from the Pacific Northwest.

Originally, all that was known about it was that Isabella acquired it sometime before 1924.

With the help of leaders and experts from Tribal Cultural Centers and Councils, researchers specializing in Native American art from several museums, a high-powered microscope, and fiber experts, our Conservation and Collections staff set out to uncover more information about its origin and history.

What they found answered some questions—and raised several more.

🔗 Read the full story: https://go.gardnermuseum.org/4yBeMRS
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📷: Fiber sample under magnification, 200x, transmitted light.
🧺: Native American, possibly Makah, Quinault, or Quileute, Basket, 19th century. Woven grass and cedar bark, 5.4 x 10.5 cm (2 1/8 x 4 1/8 in.)

This Virgin and Child by Francesco Pesellino, dating from the mid-1450s, was one of the most reproduced paintings in 15t...
10/10/2026

This Virgin and Child by Francesco Pesellino, dating from the mid-1450s, was one of the most reproduced paintings in 15th-century Florence—but when Isabella acquired it in 1892, it was the first work by Pesellino in an American collection.

Swipe through to take a closer look—can you make out the lines of the artist's original drawing underneath the paint?

Pesellino was the most innovative painter in Florence during his time—stop by this painting in the Rafael room on your next visit to see why!

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Image: Francesco Pesellino, Virgin and Child with a Swallow (detail), about 1453-1457. Tempera on panel.

Did you know this painting by Dennis Miller Bunker was inspired by real chrysanthemums at Isabella's estate? Bunker was ...
10/09/2026

Did you know this painting by Dennis Miller Bunker was inspired by real chrysanthemums at Isabella's estate?

Bunker was experimenting with impressionism, a new style he'd spent the summer studying in England. Look closely at the flowers themselves, and you'll see that they're made up of a flurry of short, colorful brushstrokes that, viewed from a distance, come together to create the 'impression' of petals.

With chrysanthemums blooming in the Courtyard right now, it’s the perfect time to see them both. How does looking at Bunker’s painting change the way you see the real flowers, or vice versa?

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🖼️: Dennis Miller Bunker (American, 1861–1891), Chrysanthemums, 1888. Oil on canva.
📍 On view in the Blue Room

Isabella was named after her beloved grandmother, Isabella Tod Stewart, a prize-winning horticulturist and successful fa...
10/08/2026

Isabella was named after her beloved grandmother, Isabella Tod Stewart, a prize-winning horticulturist and successful farmer.

Get to know this "original Isabella" on our blog:go.gardnermuseum.org/4nV66An

Image: Thomas Sully, Isabella Tod Stewart, 1837. Oil on canvas.

On this day in 1669, Rembrandt died in Amsterdam.The city he knew was a place of extraordinary cultural exchange—home to...
10/04/2026

On this day in 1669, Rembrandt died in Amsterdam.

The city he knew was a place of extraordinary cultural exchange—home to artists, merchants, immigrants, Protestants, and thriving Jewish communities. Living alongside each other, these groups found commonality in an unexpected place: the story of the ancient Jewish heroine, Queen Esther.

Protestant Dutch audiences saw in her courage a reflection of their own emerging national identity. And artists like Rembrandt found in her story a rich source of drama, character, and visual imagination.

Discover how her story inspired Rembrandt and a generation of artists in "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt," now on view at the Gardner.

📌 Learn more and plan your visit at go.gardnermuseum.org/Esther

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🖼️: Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1629. Oil on oak panel. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
🖼️: Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669), A Jewish Heroine [possibly Esther] from the Hebrew Bible, about 1632–1633. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Purchased 1953
🖼️: The exhibition "The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt" in Hostetter Gallery, 6 August 2026 — 18 January, 2027. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Fall finds the Courtyard adorned with 'Late Summer Jewels.' Dahlia, hibiscus, coleus, colocasia and heuchera seem to al...
09/30/2026

Fall finds the Courtyard adorned with 'Late Summer Jewels.'

Dahlia, hibiscus, coleus, colocasia and heuchera seem to almost glow our moody, jewel-tone garden. Golden chain orchids fill the cloiseters with their warm, clove scent, while Laelia orchids' towering, flowering spikes reach over 6' tall.

This display is a feast for the senses: come savor it with us.

Address

25 Evans Way
Boston, MA
02115

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 9pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

Telephone

(617) 566-1401

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