Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Indoor Living

by Shae McDonald

March 4, 2014

            A breathtaking view of a warm courtyard is rare in the cold city of Boston, but this museum is all part of the beautiful vision of Isabella Stewart Gardner. The picturesque visual art isn’t the only thing that makes this museum unique, an indoor garden is placed at the heart of the museum with a skylight that makes you question whether it is still winter or not. Surrounding the courtyard are stone slabs stuck together in such an interesting way that it provokes thoughts such as: was this placed here purposely or my personal favorite, how does this relate? The answer is simply, unknown. When Mrs. Gardner created the museum, in 1903, she put everything where it is today and asked that it not be moved. To this day the employees and the director of the museum, Anne Hawley, try to preserve her wish when she established the museum. This museum is very thought provoking due to the fact that it is set up in a strange way and it may interest you or make you shy away from the thoughts that come to your head.

            One room is called the Gothic/Religious room, and this room is set up in an odd way. There are many chairs that surround the room, but very few tables. The light of the room all comes from the three stained glass areas on the wall. All of the paintings were dark and mysterious, which brought up the thought, why would she put a self–portrait in a room that is considered dark or scary? In the self–portrait Mrs. Gardner was wearing black, which blended into the background. Back then women typically wore black in paintings to represent that they were widowed. In this Gothic room light was hard to find, so it was difficult to see many of the pieces, but as soon as you walked out the door the streaming light from the skylight blinded you.

            The Gothic room and the courtyard were the two most contrasting parts of this museum, which I think made the museum unique and different from anything I have seen before. Regardless of the fact that the Gothic room was difficult to see fully, the Gardner museum has done a brilliant job of lighting and maintaining the artwork in all parts of the museum. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a one of a kind experience no one should miss.