10 Highlights of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston

Passion Flowers and Hummingbirds by Martin Johnson Heade

We have just released a new audio tour for the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, one of the biggest art museums in the United States. The app and the tour are freely in the Amuze – Museum Audio Tours app which is available for iPhone and Android phone. The MFA has a special collection, partly due to the significant historical role Boston played in the history of the United States. Until the middle of the 18th century, Boston was the biggest and wealthiest city in British America, and it has produced some of the early successful American painters. And the Museum of Fine Arts has many of their works in the collection.

Our highlights tour of the MFA in Boston starts with works by some of the magnificent American artists from the 18th and 19th century. Of specific interest are the works by John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart who spent a considerable part of their career in Boston. The museum has a large unfinished canvas of Gilbert Stuart on display. And while unfinished works are usually not the most interesting ones, this Portrait of George Washington deserves special attention as it served as the model for George Washington’s image on the one dollar bill. This bill has been in circulation since 1963. 

​Listen to the audio for this painting below (the rest of the tour is available for free in the app):

Watson and the Shark by Copley

George Washington by Stuart

The tour continues with the works of two other magnificent American artists: Martin Johnson Heade and John Singer Sargent. The museum has a room full or works by the American Impressionist Sargent. And we would not want you to get out of the museum before you have seen the magnificent Passion Flowers and Hummingbirds by Heade.
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After this series of American artworks, the tour continues with wonderful highlight from the European part of the collection. There are some wonderful and happy paintings, including the Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome by Giovanni Paolo Panini and Dance at Bougival by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. These paintings will put a smile on your face.

Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome by Panini

Dance at Bougival by Renoir

But there are also paintings that may make you think and contemplate, including The Slave Ship by J. M. W. Turner and the Paul Gauguin’s reflective masterpiece Where Do We Come from? What Are We? Where Are We Going?

Where Do We Come from? What Are We? Where Are We Going? by Paul Gauguin

And while the museum is still closed at this moment, you can already enjoy this tour virtually. Just get your phone, look at these masterpieces from the comfort of your home, and listen to the entertaining and informative comments by our experts.

Wishing you all the best!

Eelco