Any day’s a great day to pop into see the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It’s an oasis from a busy city or a busy mind.
Isabella knew what she was doing when she painted her palace walls with a blush patina. The courtyard has the magical ability to bring color back to your cheeks.
Fenway Court celebrates Isabella Stewart Gardner’s birthday the entire month of April. The elegance of her courtyard reflects the dramatic signature of her soul. It’s also a metaphorical color-code for her boldness when faced with arbitrary rules of convention.
Isabella Stewart Gardner b: April 14th, 1840. d:July 17th 1924
Honoring the trailblazer’s birthday it’s become a tradition to cascade orange nasturtium from second-story balcony windows. The organic drapes add whimsy to Mrs. Gardner’s serious life-story and an exclamation point to one of Boston’s most iconic settings.
To bask in the glow of the atrium is to imagine the soul of Mrs. Gardner’s artistic genius, curatorial eye and philanthropic spirit.
But for the theft of thirteen works of art on March 18th,1990, the Museum that bears Mrs.Gardner’s name, is as she designed it to be, an international treasure in perpetuity.
Annexing the original Fenway manse is a newly designed space. Installed with objet d’art Mrs.Gardner may have found curious. The current exhibit “Waters of the Abyss: An Intersection of Spirit and Freedom” is a modern riff on creativity from a political woman. The artistic thesis of empowerment by Fabiola Jean-Louis invites guests to take a journey through the earthly and divine, personal and political.
Fantastical sculptures of sand, shells, crystals, glass and paper fuse imagery with the spirt of Vodou and Catholicism. These creations are intended to be seen as spiritual bridges between the past and infinite future. The collection’s aim is to conjure the essence of life in Haiti in juxtaposition with masterpieces informed by Mrs. Gardner’s appreciation for classical arts.
Ms. Jean-Louis cultural narratives intersect with the Gardner Museum attempting to expand our understanding of complex narratives of tradition. Impressions of marriage, motherhood and traumas are designed to be seen as portals of enlightenment synchronized by a visual activist who’s spirit aspires to reflect light in times of darkness.
See the courtyard nasturtium Now- April 14th, 2025
Catch Water of the Abyss: An Intersection of Spirit and Freedom Now- May 25, 2025