Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston MA

May 2023

This is less of a museum than it is an incredibly wealthy woman’s enormous collection of art, housed inside an absurdly massive mansion. You know that friend who invites you over to look at something they’ve collected? Imagine that, times one thousand, with art picked up from all over the world.

First, the building: It’s a 3-story stone structure in the middle of Boston, big enough to entirely enclose a courtyard. It takes quite some time just to get to every room.

As for the collection, it’s mind-numbingly varied; Isabella went wide, not deep. If it could be collected, she collected it: paintings, chairs, vases, hand fans, letters, sculptures, rugs, books, and more. It’s mind-boggling.

Now, it’s easy to view this uncharitably, to imagine Isabella using her vast inherited wealth to send herself on luxurious trips all over the world, and buy expensive art from other countries only to bring them back to America as signifiers of her conspicuous consumption.

The truth is, while Isabella was born into wealth, after her first child died in infancy and a miscarriage prevented her from having any children, she became so depressed that her husband took her on an international trip to lift her spirits. This not only improved her physical health, it supercharged her emotional health as well, turning her into a lifelong traveler and igniting an intense curiosity about art and culture.

She began collecting art, and once their collection grew too large for their home, she began construction of a public museum for it. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is not her house; she had the place built so that her collection could be enjoyed by everyone.

She also wore a Red Sox headband to a formal symphony orchestra concert in 1912.

I wish I could have met her. The museum is the closest thing I have, and for that, I’m grateful.

Fees: $20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $13 for students, free for kids

Conditions: Rainy, 60° Fahrenheit

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