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
Maverick Kings: Three Visionary Pharaohs - of Egypt’s Golden Age
Sep 6 2026 - Dec 6 2026
Explores how pharaohs used their own images to achieve and retain political power
Picasso, Miró, Dalí: Unbound
Aug 1 2026 - Jan 24 2027
Explores how images, words, and typography intersect
Reality and Imagination: Rembrandt and the Jews in the Dutch Republic
Dec 15 2025 - Nov 29 2026
Explores Jews' interaction with the artistic culture of Holland in the 1600s
The Banner Project: Joiri Minaya
Jun 24 2026 - Jun 21 2027
Explores how the identity of women from tropical regions has been imagined, constructed, and commodified
Renoir and Love
Feb 1928 - Jun 13 2027
40 paintings from between the mid-1860s and mid-1880s
Suzanne Jackson: What Is Love
Sep 26 2026 - Jan 17 2027
60+ paintings and drawings that innovate color, light, and structure.
Naoko Matsubara’s Woodblock Worlds
Sep 5 2026 - May 16 2027
Celebrates the artist’s storied career, now in its seventh decade