From it's beginnings in 1876 with 5,600 works of art, the MFA now holds a comprehensive collection encompassing 500,000 works of art, spanning the history of artistic endeavor from ancient Egyptian to contemporary.
Major collections include Art of the Americas, Art of Europe from the Middle Ages through the mid-20th century, Asian Art since 4000 BC, African and Pacific Art, an encyclopedic collection of Antiquities, and Contemporary Art.
Exhibitions & Dates
Kay Nielsen’s Enchanted Vision - The Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection
Jul 20 2019 - Jan 20 2020
More than 45 dramatic watercolors, drawings, and illustrated books
Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico - A way of life, a way of seeing
Jan 19 2019 - May 12 2019
Some 125 photographs span a five-decade-long career
Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris
Apr 7 2019 - Aug 4 2019
Explore depictions of the stars and entertainments of 19th-century Montmartre
Gender Bending Fashion
Mar 21 2019 - Aug 25 2019
60+ boundary-pushing designs examine the expression of identity
Exhibition Lab: Sargent and Fashion
Nov 10 2018 - Jun 23 2019
Participate in planning a landmark exhibition on Sargent and fashion
Jack Bush: Radiant Abstraction
Nov 17 2018 - Apr 21 2019
Three large-scale canvases from one of Canada’s leading artists
Made Visible: Contemporary South African Fashion and Identity
Feb 2 2019 - May 12 2019
Explores ways that clothing communicates identity
Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular
Feb 27 2019 - Jun 16 2019
Explores Kahlo’s avid engagement with arte popular
Radical Geometries Bauhaus Prints, 1919–33
Feb 9 2019 - Jun 23 2019
60+ works celebrate the centenary of this school of modernist abstraction
Boston Made: Arts and Crafts Jewelry and Metalwork
Nov 17 2018 - Mar 29 2020
Some 100 works explore the Arts and Crafts movement in Boston in the early 20th century
Postwar Visions: European Photography, 1945–60
Feb 9 2019 - Jun 23 2019
Reviving Bauhaus abstraction after World War II
Collecting Stories: A Mid-Century Experiment
May 4 2019 - Mar 8 2020
45 works acquired mid-century for the Provisional Collection
Georgie Friedman: Fragments of Antarctica
Apr 13 2019 - Sep 15 2019
The natural world and a warming planet
Conservation in Action: Japanese Buddhist Sculpture in a New Light
Dec 15 2018 - Jun 30 2020
Behind-the-scenes look at the conservation of seven Buddhist sculptures
Royal Celebrations Japanese Prints and Postcards
Feb 13 2019 - Sep 15 2019
Illustrating the pomp and ceremony of an imperial family line
Bouchra Khalili: Poets and Witnesses
Mar 21 2019 - Aug 25 2019
A meditation on the transmission of history through poetry