Art Review: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. I hadn’t been in two or three years, at least, but a nice couple purchased a tour of the Gardner by me in a silent auction raising money for the Friends of Acadia. It’s the support group for the national park on Mount Desert Island in Maine. I was delighted to see the Gardner, a unique American treasure, looking fantastic and filled with happy visitors of all ages. There seemed to be lots of young people, so I asked about demographics. Last year, nearly 60 percent of the Gardner’s visitors were younger than 45. That has to be very gratifying.

I also saw lots of subtle changes at a place whose brand used to be semper edem, always the same, but, to draw on Gardner’s beloved Italian, sempre mummificato — or on the fusty and musty side. Yes, the founder, Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924), decreed that nothing could be moved or added, and, yes, the museum used to look like a high-end tomb, with what seemed like tomb lighting. Actually, Gardner had the option for electric lights when she built the museum in 1901 but decided in favor of natural light. Given Boston’s weather, the look was often dark and drab.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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A couple of weeks ago I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. I hadn’t been in two or three years, at least, but a nice couple purchased a tour of the Gardner by me in a silent auction raising money for the Friends of Acadia. It’s the support group for the national park on Mount Desert Island in Maine. I was delighted to see the Gardner, a unique American treasure, looking fantastic and filled with happy visitors of all ages. There seemed to be lots of young people, so I asked about demographics. Last year, nearly 60 percent of the Gardner’s visitors were younger than 45. That has to be very gratifying.

I also saw lots of subtle changes at a place whose brand used to be semper edem, always the same, but, to draw on Gardner’s beloved Italian, sempre mummificato — or on the fusty and musty side. Yes, the founder, Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924), decreed that nothing could be moved or added, and, yes, the museum used to look like a high-end tomb, with what seemed like tomb lighting. Actually, Gardner had the option for electric lights when she built the museum in 1901 but decided in favor of natural light. Given Boston’s weather, the look was often dark and drab.