Museum of Fine Arts

Last weekend was the kickoff for Chinese New Year. We wanted to go downtown and check out some of the stuff they were doing to celebrate. Unfortunately we didn't really get to see anything because it was CRAZY packed everywhere. We tried to go eat in Chinatown and it was insane. We already aren't used to needing a reservation for a Friday night so we forgot to do that, but then factor in Chinese New Year and we were looking at a 2 1/2 hour wait. So we left Chinatown pretty disappointed. But! This last Friday night I got an email from a woman in our ward letting us know that the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was doing a free admission day on Saturday as part of a Chinese New Year celebration! We've really been wanting to go to the museum but it so expensive that we couldn't really justify it yet. Needless to say, we were stoked.

Saturday we got up and headed over to the museum. The day was already off to a great start knowing we were going to get to see an amazing museum for free, but then the train to our stop wasn't working so they had free shuttles to take us there! Not that the train is expensive at all, but those times where you get to travel for free feel so good for some reason. We had to walk about 15 minutes from the stop to the museum and then had to wait in line for about 15 minutes. It was FREEZING outside. When we were walking we didn't really notice the cold as much, but as soon as we were in line in the shade of the museum, we felt it fast. But we made it into the warm museum and couldn't believe how huge it was. Based on the lines at both entrances we thought the museum would be PACKED. But the place is so huge, you couldn't even tell. It was really crowded in a few places, like where they were doing the dances and shows for Chinese New Year and most of the East Asia exhibits were quite busy, but everywhere else was pretty calm. The museum was AMAZING. We are even going to go back and pay full price to go because it was just incredible. I mean we both love museums and history so it was right up our alley, but this was especially amazing. We started off in the Middle East Exhibits. They had amazing pottery on display and some really cool paintings. I think the coolest thing here though was they had an excerpt from The Qur'an from 1092 AD. I just think it's incredible when things, especially paper things, are so well preserved after all that time.

Some of the beautiful dishes, I think they were from Iran

Qur'an from I think the 1800's?

1092 AD Qur'an

From here we wandered into the Asia Exhibits. They had statues, paintings, writings, and dishes from all over! I think we started in India and got to see things from there, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Japan, China, and a few other places but I can't remember all of them. The detail in the stone work we saw was just amazing.

Silk work

They had a room set up like a Buddha Temple in Japan and it was really fascinating

We missed the Africa/Oceania section. Guess we'll have to go back! We went through some of the American exhibits next. We saw some modern art which isn't really my thing. Like we saw a big canvas that was just red. ?? Why? Anyway. There were some cool pieces though.

This was made of bottle caps and scrap metal!

Jackson Pollack

The American section was mostly replicated rooms. They had rooms from famous houses in MA. There were some from when the Pilgrims first came and some from the 1800-1900's. The most surprising thing was how small the furniture was. People were so small back in the day!

The only picture of the rooms I took

Another part of the American sections was they had a whole room filled with model ships. That was really cool. They had stained glass works up too. And lots, I mean a ton, of silver dishes made in America or brought from England in the 1600's.

This display was so cool because it was sided all in mirrors and I thought it looked so great!

Then we got to one of the galleries we were looking forward to most! The Impressionists! They had work from all the greats, including a whole room filled with Monet's work. One of my favourite things about the MFA was that each gallery was different. Like the Impressionist galleries had the French Herringbone floors and fancy wallpaper. The Renaissance parts had red tiled floors. It was like being in different museums all day!

A panel from the Hotel Montmarte in Paris

There was also a ton of other European works. They had a huge section filled with Renaissance art. That was another of my favourite parts. The museum seriously did such a great job with the galleries. They had a room that had an entire alcove pained just like a chapel from Catalonia. Everything was just beautiful.

From the Catalonia Church

They also had European works from the 17th-19th centuries too. One of our favourite parts was a room that was an exact replica of a Scottish castle from that time. The whole room was paneled in dark wood and there was a huge fireplace. I felt like I was in the Scottish castle they show in The Crown (I highly recommend it on Netflix).

The fireplace crest

The ceiling, look at that chandelier!

At this point we took a quick break to grab some pizza because walking in a museum for 2 1/2 hours is no joke! When we came back we went and saw the Ancient Worlds galleries. There were works from Greece, Rome and Egypt. I'm a sucker for anything related to Ancient Egypt. Ever since I was like 5 years old I have been fascinated with mummies and polytheistic belief systems. Needless to say we spent a lot of time checking out the Ancient Egypt galleries.

The Roman and Greek galleries were really cool too but after walking around for over 3 hours and all the walking we did to get to the museum, we were pretty tired so those galleries were more rushed. They had pottery, statues, writings, etc. It was pretty amazing. In one of the Greek galleries they had a whole room of just pottery that looked just like the stuff in Hercules so that was fun.

We made one last stop to see the Native American galleries. The only part of the museum that was a little bit of a let down was this. Being from Utah, I guess I took it for granted having all the amazing artifacts and artwork from the different tribes at so many museums around us. The MFA did have some really cool things from the Mayans and Aztecs and there was some really cool jewelry and clothes from the 1800's from a few different tribes, but that was really it.

There were a lot of gold artifacts from the Mayans

Aside from the small disappointment at the end of the day, I really can't say enough about how incredible the MFA is. If you are ever in Boston and you like museums, this should be at the top of your list. We spent 4 hours there and could easily have spent a couple more. We'll be back MFA!