Boston: clear your schedule!
Because the very European town of Boston is a bustle of activity: cultural events, exhibits, museums, etc, we are already making a list of the absolute must-sees. Spotlight on John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, the Museum of fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Mark you calendars!
Find out everything there is to know about Kennedy!
As soon as you arrive in Boston, immerse yourself in the 60’s with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. From his presidential campaign to the Cuban missile crisis, from his family to his tragic assassination, the Ieoh Ming Pei-designed building (the architect to whom we owe the Louvre Pyramid) allows you to jump through history in order to better understand the life of the 35th president of the United States. Experience a truly unique moment by watching the first-ever televised presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy, during the presidential campaign. Here you will be able to understand and fully assess Kennedy’s charm and communication skills and his opponent’s lack thereof which most certainly cost him the election. This museum, built thanks to funding from private donations, was presented to the United States Government on October 20th, 1979.
A turning point!
Modern Art lovers? Set course for the ICA!
A palatial museum, located on the waterfront, embellished by a glass façade offering a view of the harbour: the ICA – The Institute of Contemporary Art – Boston defies the laws of gravity and displays a permanent collection as well as a series of temporary exhibits presenting emerging artists to the public.
Built on the Boston docks, you might want to, after visiting the ICA, well worth the detour, make your way to the New England Aquarium, where over 20 000 aquatic species await.
The ICA, a Mecca for contemporary art lovers, in Boston of course…
MFA: An absolute must-see
Where Claude Monet meets Ancient Egypt, Jackson Pollock and Asian Art…: the Museum of Fine Arts, considered to be one of the greatest Beaux-Arts museums in the United states, is an absolute must-see in Boston with no fewer than a million art enthusiasts walking down Huntington Avenue every year.
A beautiful room contains all the musical instruments and, let’s not forget, a section on American art dedicated to the well-known artist John Singleton Copley, master of American portraiture. Boston native, he adapted the works of English painters – who he knew only through their engravings – to the portrayal of puritan societies of the East.
Exhilirating.
As for impressionism lovers, they need not fear; an entire room is dedicated to that affect. Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Pissaro, to state a few, have won us over once again.
Welcome to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum!
Don’t know who Isabella Stewart is? You must come meet her at once! Enter this small Venetian palace whose Italian charm will not leave you indifferent, and discover a private art collection of exceptional magnitude.
This famous Bostonian, fascinated by art, drew the plans for her own home and lived there to her last day. Born in New York, in April of the year 1840, her father, David Stewart, made a fortune in copper mines. After his death, his entire fortune was passed on to his daughter.
Married and living in Boston with her husband Jack Gardner, as much of an art-lover as she, she had only one son who died at the age of two.
They started travelling through Europe and Asia, collecting exceptional works of art, that are now displayed in this little museum.
Inspired by the town of Venice, she built her home in typical Venetian style, thus giving it its unusual, almost spiritual atmosphere.
A life devoted to art, dedicated to collecting works from around the world, from the Death and Assumption of the Virgin by Fre Angelico to the works of John Singer Sargent, James Whistler or even Turner, Degas and Tintoretto. A beautiful and moving journey.
