Arriving in Boston & Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

In October of 2017, I accompanied my parents on a fall foliage tour of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Our tour began in the bustling city of Boston, and we had the pleasure of staying at the lovely Langham hotel. We arrived a couple of days before our tour began to have time to settle in and see a few things in the city on our own.

I stayed in the coziest, little attic type room, that had a stunning view of downtown Boston.

Our first day in the big city happened to be a Sunday, so we were able to attend the Langham's Sunday brunch. This was the best Sunday brunch I have ever attended, and I have attended a few. There were endless options to choose from, both savory and sweet, and their presentations were gorgeous.

I got 1 savory plate and one sweet plate and was stuffed, I wish I could have tried more of what was offered!

The cereal and milk panna cotta was my favorite presentation, it was the cutest.

After brunch, we headed to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, located in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood. The three-floor Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum embodies a woman who, for over three decades, assembled a collection of more than two thousand artifacts (paintings, sculptures, objects, textiles, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, letters, etc.) from around the world. Isabella’s story is intriguing, and her collection, a lifetime’s pursuit of diverse eccentricities, conveys the energy one woman found in the art of collections.

Visible from virtually any gallery in the Museum, the Courtyard is the heart and soul of the museum and is the main focal point as you walk in. It is home to several centuries of art that evoke radically different locales: an ancient Roman sculpture garden, a Renaissance Venetian canal-scape, a medieval European cloister, and a turn-of-the-century universal exposition hall. Only women inhabit this space–look carefully and you’ll notice that the figures depicted in its many artworks are all female. Surrounding them is a living, breathing work of art: a garden. The highlighted plants here change almost every month, from orchids in the winter to nasturtium hangings in the spring, all set amid an array of other flowers and lush ferns, shrubs, and palms.

My favorite museums are the ones where the architecture and interior design of the building is as stunning and beautiful as the art it is displaying. Some of my favorite museums like this are the Frick in New York, the Galleria Borghese in Rome, The Mauritshuis in the Haag in the Netherlands, and now the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

El Jaleo

John Singer Sargent 

1882

Some of the galleries are so small and full of art, only a handful of visitors are let in at a time to avoid overcrowding and possibility bumping into a priceless piece of art. I loved the way the art was displayed salon style in some of these galleries. Each room had a gallery guide that outlined all the artwork in the room since there were no gallery cards.

In the Dressing Room

Louis Kronberg (American)

Pastel on Canvas

Tomb of Gaston de Foix

Joseph Lindon Smith (American)

1894

Watercolor on paper 

This piece stood out to me because of the medium. I haven't ever seen a watercolor with such sharp, delicate, intricate details. 

The "Blue Room" was one of my favorite galleries. I loved so many of the paintings in there.

At the Window

Louis Kronberg (American)

1917

Oil on Canvas

A Ballerina 

Edgar Degas

1880

Chalk and Pastel on Paper

The Raphael Room was another favorite of mine.

View of the courtyard from the Raphael room

In 1990, the museum’s security guards admitted two men posing as Boston police officers who went on to steal $500 million worth of art and collectibles. With no leads decades later, the event is the largest unsolved art theft in history.

Some of paintings were simply cut out of their frames. Those empty frames still hang on the wall, awaiting the return of their contents. The museum continues to offer a reward of $10 million for information leading to the recovery of the stolen items.

The most well known painting that was stolen is The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt, it's frame is still hanging and it is still included in the gallery guide.

I highly recommend the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum if you are ever in Boston and are looking for something new and unique to add to your itinerary!