The MFA

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I always used to love walking over to the MFA from my condo when I lived here previously, and so I wanted to see if I could still do it now that I am back and a bit older by seven years.. It turns out I can! It is exactly 1.5 miles each way. If I am careful not to walk around too much inside the museum, it is do-able. All together with the walk over and back and inside the museum I walked just under 4 miles. That is about my limit these days.

I am a member of the museum so I only have to get my membership card scanned and I am able to just walk in. I can go in to see just one thing and leave. I love being able to do that. To me art museums have to be taken in small doses if it is possible. It is easy to become over stimulated and exhausted by trying to see too much at one time.

I visited two galleries. The first was called “Beyond Brilliance.” It is a collection of some of the museums jewelry collection and really was quite stunning. There were quite a few artists that were familiar to me and others I had not heard of. Once upon a time I made jewelry. I loved making it but I had fears around using the torch. Especially in a small apartment so I gave up on it. I have a dear friend who makes the most stunning pieces of jewelry. She has a good sized studio and so plenty of space for a large torch and all the many tools that one accumulates making jewelry.

The second gallery I visited was called “Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer”. These were still life paintings of Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). They were paintings of floral bouquets combined with all manner of colorful insects and lizards. It was an impressive collection of her work. I had never heard of her before but I will go back for a second look now that I have learned more about her. The show is up until December 7th. If you get a chance to see it I think you will be impressed as I was.

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