Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum – day 2

If you are ever in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is one of the most eclectic, eccentric and unique museums I’ve seen in my lifetime. Actually, one doesn’t just see it, one really does experience it. I’m so glad it started off extreme day two.

Isabella Stewart Gardner, known also as “Mrs. Jack” in reference to her husband, John L. (“Jack”) Gardner, was one of the foremost female patrons of the arts. She was a patron and friend of leading artists and writers of her time, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler and Henry James. She was a supporter of community social services and cultural enrichment. She was an ardent fan of the Boston Symphony, the Red Sox and Harvard College football. Isabella Stewart Gardner was also the visionary creator of what remains one of the most remarkable and intimate collections of art in the world today and a dynamic supporter of artists of her time, encouraging music, literature, dance and creative thinking across artistic disciplines.
 
Over three decades, Isabella Stewart Gardner traveled the world … to amass a remarkable collection of master and decorative arts. In 1903, she completed the construction of Fenway Court in Boston to house her collection and provide a vital place for Americans to access and enjoy important works of art. Mrs. Gardner installed her collection of works in a way to evoke intimate responses to the art, mixing paintings, furniture, textiles and objects from different cultures and periods among well-known European paintings and sculpture. 

While all the traditional museum rules apply (there are no less than 3,000 “do not touch” signs throughout the museum), the experience is much less formal. You feel like you are on a private snooping tour through this woman’s home.

El Jaleo - John S. Sargent

The collection includes a Rembrandt, a Matisse, a Degas, a Whistler, etc. But I had one of the strongest reactions I’ve ever had to a painting when I saw El Jaleo by John S. Sargent.  This picture does nothing to evoke the light, shadow and raw energy captured in this painting.

When she died in 1924, Isabella stipulated in her will that the museum’s permanent collection not be significantly altered, ensuring that the art would be presented the way she had intended for as long as the museum remains open.  Also, anyone named Isabella gets in for free. Cool lady. Go to this museum.