Artistic Boston

‘Breathless’, ‘proud’, and ‘insignificant’ are but a few of the many things I feel as I quietly stroll the marble and stone galleries of the museum that features so many of America’s important 18th- and 19th-century painters, including a pair of murals by John Singer Sargent. Located on the Fenway, part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace system of parks surrounding Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts offers a calming setting in which to enjoy a wide selection of art. The building was erected at its current location over the first two decades of the 20th century, and its large marble halls present both a soothing and stately environment in which the art is presented. Similar to, but more manageable than New York’s Metropolitan Museum, the MFA is in every way quintessential Boston, subtle in its approach and overwhelming in the details. Come for the art — there are Van Goghs, Monets, Degases, some Winslow Homers, and even some Rembrandts, as well as one of the largest museum collections of Japanese pottery outside of Japan — but stay for the architecture. And look out for the museum’s iconic pieces, Pannini’s Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome and Childe Hassam’s Boston Common at Twilight. See www.mfa.org.