Beautiful Painted Portrait with Terrible Music by Vanessa Hsiao

      Why is that there? What is that? Who is that? When was that created? Those were only some of the questions I had during my experience at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Gardner opened the museum in 1903 after a fast and detailed construction. When Gardner passed away in 1924, she requested that the pieces in her museum not be moved or adjusted. To this day, the museum has not been changed since Gardner’s death.

     The Gardner museum is connected to a modern museum where an in and out concert was held. The modern museum included a gift shop, a café, and a library/lounge. Walking from the modern museum into the Gardner Museum was like traveling through time, from simple glass and metal stairs to old tiles and stones. The museum surrounds a beautiful courtyard with several different types of plants and flowers, a fountain, a grand staircase from the second floor, and a mosaic flooring work in the middle of the courtyard.

     On the third floor, there is a portrait of Gardner herself in the Gothic room. The room itself was very dark and had a medieval feel with stained glass windows shining limited light in. John S. Sargent, who had also done some other work in the museum painted the portrait. In the portrait, Gardner wears a low cut black dress with a strand of pearls from her neck to her skinny waist. Gardner placed her hands interlocking in the front of her with her mouth open and eyes and body facing forward. The portrait portrays Gardner as a youthful, educated, and confident woman. Though the portrait is obviously composed, the position of Gardner’s body presents her as a calm, collective, and strong woman.

     The modern museum also features an in and out concert most days in the afternoon. During my time there, I decided to check it out. The theater astonished me when I first quietly walked in. The rich red seats are placed perfectly in four levels that surround the center. There was glass that went in front of the seats and around the center that created a very modern look as well as the simple delicate lighting hanging by wires in the theatre. In the center of the first floor there was a pianist and flutist. The pianist had very expressive facial movement as he was playing two pianos, one being a grand. Though the theater was beautiful and the pianist and flutist were amazing, the music was quiet boring. Composed by Morton Feldman, the tempo was quite slow and minimum. There were often pauses and only a few notes before the next pause. It was interesting but it quickly got repetitive and uninteresting. I definitely recommend checking out the concert when you are there but there is no guarantee of enjoyment.

         Overall, the Gardner Museum was an amazing experience with great pieces from many time periods and each room with a different feel. The Gothic Room was certainly the most interesting to me and I would recommend checking it out if you go. The in and out concert is worth checking out just to see the theatre and feel the room but don’t expect to hear the best composed music. I definitely recommend the Isabella Gardner Museum, as it holds some of the most timeless and great pieces in European history.