Past Exhibitions

New Works
Prints, Drawings, Collages

July 28, 2010–May 1, 2011

American and European prints, drawings, and collages acquired in the last half-decade dramatically document the kaleidoscopic diversity of the art of...

Visiting Masterpieces
Vincent van Gogh's The Sower

May 11–August 17, 2010

The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation), has graciously lent The Sower, painted in the town of Arles in southern France in...

Signs and Symbols
The Community Arts Initiative Artist Project

April 24–September 6, 2010

For the "Signs and Symbols" project, children from after-school programs and community organizations across Boston looked at how words and characters...

Romantic Interludes
Women in Firdawsi's Shahnama

April 24, 2010–January 16, 2011

The Shahnama, often called the "national epic" of Iran, was completed around the year 1010 by the Persian poet Abu'l Qasim Firdawsi. A vast and...

SMFA Traveling Scholars

April 10–May 31, 2010

This year’s “SMFA Traveling Scholars” exhibition features works by five Museum School alumni who each received the prestigious Traveling Scholarship...

Under the Skin
Tattoos in Japanese Prints

April 3, 2010–January 2, 2011

Tattooing became an important feature of Japanese urban popular culture in the early 19th century, influenced strongly by the success of a series of...

Luis Meléndez
Master of the Spanish Still Life

February 2–May 9, 2010

"A splendid show."—The New York Times

Object, Image, Collector
African and Oceanic Art in Focus

December 12, 2009–July 18, 2010

By juxtaposing pieces from Africa and Oceania selected from private collections with photographs, “Object, Image, Collector” explores the complex...

Albrecht Dürer: Virtuoso Printmaker

November 21, 2009–July 5, 2010

"A sterling one-room show of Dürer’s prints...the MFA’s holdings are top-notch, and the show includes some of the finest, most indelible images in the...

Café and Cabaret
Toulouse-Lautrec's Paris

November 21, 2009–August 8, 2010

The French aristocrat Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), one of the most innovative artists of the late nineteenth century, is known for his bold...