The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum houses the personal collection of its founder, a Gilded Age art patron who arranged her paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative objects in a four-story building modeled on a Venetian palazzo. Galleries surround a glass-roofed central courtyard filled with flowers and greenery year-round, and Gardner’s will famously requires the collection to be displayed largely as she left it.
The museum is also known for the unsolved 1990 theft in which thieves made off with works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others; empty frames still hang where the stolen paintings once were. A modern wing designed by Renzo Piano added gallery, performance, and education space alongside the historic palace. Located in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood near the Museum of Fine Arts, it offers rotating exhibitions and concerts. Hours, admission, and programming change, so confirm current details on the official site before visiting.
Good to know
- Collection is preserved largely as Isabella Stewart Gardner arranged it
- Site of the unsolved 1990 art heist; empty frames remain on display
- Features a glass-roofed courtyard garden and a Renzo Piano-designed wing
- Located near the Museum of Fine Arts in the Fenway
Getting there
- Address: 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115
- Neighborhood: Fenway
- Nearest T: Museum of Fine Arts or Longwood Medical Area stops (MBTA Green Line E branch), roughly a 5-minute walk