Boston Museum of Fine Arts Small-Group Tour with Art Historian

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is one of the country's oldest and most important art museums. With a collection that spans millennia and the globe, the MFA provides endless opportunity to discuss the role of art in history and culture.

During your 3-hour tour of the MFA led by an art historian, you'll concentrate on some of the major holdings of the museum, including its Renaissance and baroque European collections, the modern galleries, and the American collection, tying these together with a narrative approach that traces aesthetic styles and preoccupations through the ages.

Begin with an overview of the institution, from its founding in the 1870s to the construction of its present building in the early 20th century to the renovations and expansion currently underway. Patronage will be a strong theme as you wander the galleries and discuss the people and social and political forces behind many of the artworks here. Your discussion revolves primarily around Western art and the European and American collections, but there will be an opportunity at the end of your walk to visit the Asian galleries and have a brief, introductory explanation of this renowned collection.

In the European painting galleries, trace the trajectory of European art from the Italian Renaissance to the birth of the modern movement, looking at such diverse artists as Donatello, Fra Angelico, Matisse, and Picasso. You'll also spend some time in the stunning Art of the Americas wing, looking at the museum's peerless collection of colonial art and comparing the figures of Copley and Revere through the works they crafted. Your journey takes you into the 19th century to see works by Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent, and then beyond into the 20th century.