Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, often called the Gardner Museum, sits at 25 Evans Way in Boston's Fenway area. Isabella Stewart Gardner built it as a Venetian-style palace around a glass-roofed courtyard, and it opened in 1903. The collection includes work by Rembrandt, Titian, Sargent and Michelangelo, and the museum is also known for the 1990 theft that left empty frames on its walls. This page covers how to reach the museum, what to see inside, and the best things to do near the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, from the Museum of Fine Arts to the Emerald Necklace. It also shows how to fit a visit into a day with the hop-on hop-off tour map.
Location
The museum is at 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115, in the Fenway-Kenmore area. It sits beside the Back Bay Fens, a green stretch of the Emerald Necklace, and the Museum of Fine Arts is a short walk away, roughly five to ten minutes, so the two pair well in one day. You enter from Evans Way.
By subway, the closest option is the Green Line E branch to the Museum of Fine Arts stop, or the Longwood Medical Area stop on the same branch. Bus 39 on Huntington Avenue also serves that stop. Service changes, so check a trip planner before you leave. Parking near the museum is limited, which makes the Green Line the easier way in.
Fenway Park is in the same part of the city, but the walk is longer than the walk to the Museum of Fine Arts, so check a map for your route. How does a visit here fit with the rest of Boston? That starts with the story behind the building.
History
Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840 to 1924) was a Boston collector and patron who wanted her art shown in a setting she shaped herself. She worked with architect Willard T. Sears on a building modeled on Venetian Renaissance palaces, and the museum opened to the public on January 1, 1903. Her will requires the collection to stay on permanent display, arranged according to her vision, so the galleries are meant to stay as she left them.
Today the collection holds more than 7,500 paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, silver and ceramics, plus about 1,500 rare books and 7,000 archival objects. A new wing designed by Renzo Piano was completed in 2012. It added space for visitor services, concerts, exhibitions and education.
The museum's best-known story is the theft of March 18, 1990. Two thieves posing as police officers took thirteen works valued at more than $500 million. The works have not been recovered, the case is unsolved, and empty frames still hang in the Dutch Room as placeholders. Reports put the reward for information at $10 million.
What To Do
Plan on slow looking. Three floors of galleries surround a garden courtyard with a Roman mosaic and a glass roof, and the plantings change with the seasons. A few things are worth finding first:
- The courtyard: Galleries on all three floors look onto it, and it works as the center of the building.
- The paintings: Look for Rembrandt's Self-Portrait, Aged 23, Titian's The Rape of Europa, and John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo and his portrait of Gardner.
- The Michelangelo: The museum owns a drawing, a study for the Colonna Pieta.
- The empty frames: In the Dutch Room, the frames left from the 1990 theft are part of the display.
- Concerts: The museum runs a concert series, which has included Sunday afternoons and select Thursday evenings.
The museum has offered free admission to anyone named Isabella. Check the museum's official site for current hours, ticket rules, concert dates and guided tours before you go.
Nearby Attractions
These are the best things to do near the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, most of them within walking distance:
- Museum of Fine Arts: The Museum of Fine Arts covers art from ancient to contemporary and is a short walk from the Gardner, roughly five to ten minutes. Our list of the best museums to visit in Boston shows how the two compare with the city's other museums.
- Back Bay Fens and the Emerald Necklace: The Back Bay Fens lies across the Fenway from the museum, and its paths are an easy way to take a break between galleries. Read about the Emerald Necklace for the wider park system.
- Fenway Victory Gardens: About 500 garden plots inside the Fens, started during World War II.
- Fenway Park: The home of the Red Sox, covered on our Fenway Park page.
- Copley Square and Back Bay: A short Green Line ride back toward downtown, with the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Start with Copley Square and the things to do in Back Bay.
If you are building a museum day, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Gardner are both art museums in the Fenway area, and they sit close enough to see on the same day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?
It is an art museum in Boston's Fenway area, built by collector Isabella Stewart Gardner as a Venetian-style palace around a courtyard. It opened to the public in 1903 and holds more than 7,500 objects.
What is the address of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?
The address is 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115. You enter from Evans Way, close to the Museum of Fine Arts.
Where is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston?
It is in the Fenway-Kenmore area, next to the Back Bay Fens, a short walk, roughly five to ten minutes, from the Museum of Fine Arts. Fenway Park is in the same part of the city, but it is a longer walk.
What T stop is closest to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?
Take the Green Line E branch to the Museum of Fine Arts stop. Bus 39 on Huntington Avenue also serves that stop. Check current service before you travel.
What are the best things to do near the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?
The Museum of Fine Arts, the Back Bay Fens and Emerald Necklace paths, the Fenway Victory Gardens and Fenway Park are the closest options. Copley Square and Back Bay are a short Green Line ride back toward downtown.
What museums are near Fenway Park?
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts are both art museums in the Fenway area. They are close enough to each other to visit on the same day.
Is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum a Boston Sightseeing stop?
No. The hop-on hop-off route does not stop at the museum. Stop 6, Boston Public Library at Copley Square, is on every ticket, and from there the Green Line E branch reaches the museum.
Is there parking near the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?
Parking near the museum is limited, so the Green Line is usually easier. Check the museum's official visit page for current parking options before you drive.
What was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990?
On March 18, 1990, two thieves posing as police officers took thirteen works, including a Vermeer, a Rembrandt and a Manet. The case is unsolved, and empty frames still hang where the works once were.
Planning Your Boston Tour with Boston Sightseeing
Boston Sightseeing runs a narrated hop-on hop-off double-decker bus tour with daily service from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, about every 40 minutes. The route covers central Boston and Charlestown, and it does not stop at the Gardner Museum or at Fenway Park. So how do you combine the two?
Start with the bus, then finish with the Green Line. Stop 6, the Boston Public Library at Copley Square, is covered by every hop-on hop-off ticket, because all of them include Stops 1 to 8. From Copley, the Green Line E branch runs to the Museum of Fine Arts stop, a few stops away. That lets you see the Freedom Trail area in the morning and spend the afternoon at the museum.
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