Boston
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Museum Of Fine Arts
“extensive collections.”
“It is a great place to go for a date, because whatever you see there, you can be sure that it will promote discussion -- and you can learn a lot about another person by their response to art!”
“And the best cheap date in town is to go down to the cafeteria (lower level), get a great lunch and sit outside if weather permits.”
A wretched audio-visual guide not worth its fee..
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts just introduced this and I tried to use it (end of November 2010) in the new Art of The Americas wing of the museum. It has a touch screen, supposed to work like an
I-phone, but its design is non-intuitive. Where is the Help section? You will have to remember, from the 1-minute barrage of verbal instructions at time of rental, that it is 109 on the number pad. How do you get to the number pad? From selecting the language to use. How do you get to the language selection? Maybe from the Menu button. Where is that? The Menu button does not lead to a site map. As for the utility of the guide, it is scant relative to what is in any given gallery. Finding the little headset icon with a stop number – the signal that relevant information is available on the device – next to only a few works of art in room after room, I counted the number of works of art in three galleries, and the number of those that displayed the icon. The latter was 3% of the former. Moreover, access to that information is only available in the boundaries of a given ‘tour’ on the guide. If you unintentionally evoke the Stop Number screen through an inapt route, even though the work of art has the headset icon and a number, and you can tap in its number, a message will appear that this information “is not available on this tour.” When you do reach viable entries, the comments range from interpretive interesting (as for Fog Warning by Winslow Homer) to dull calling-attention-to (as for Drugstore by Edward Hopper). I voiced some of these criticisms to the museum staffer when I returned the electronic guide, and she said (sympathetically) “They’re working on it.” Next to me, another museum visitor was expressing her own dissatisfaction with this device to another staffer, who responded “They’re working on it.”
In contrast the new wing is attractive and the collections displayed in engaging ways. Enjoy them without this inadequate contraption.…
Best in the US.... When I was a grad student a couple of years ago at Northeastern I would step across the street (literally) to the MFA on Wed nights (voluntary pay for admission). Been there at least 50 times. The Japanese swords and Egyptian artifacts are the best in the world outside of their native countries. The MFA sponsored several early 1900s digs in Egypt. Been around the globe since then and the masters paintings will rival any collection in the world such as the Louvre and Hermitage. Early america displays will blow your mind if your are into that period. This museum is massive, would say it took a solid 12 hours for the first once through. Parking is right next to building or street. And then you still want to come back....…
A Great Escape. The MFA's a wonderful place to wander through for an afternoon. Maybe you won't see all of it (I spent four hours there last weekend and certainly didn't), but it's great to explore and see what's what and escape the mundane outside world. The Asian exhibits are top-notch, including a wonderful mock Japanese Buddhist shrine, designed to give a sense of how the Buddhist statues would look in the real world. When you consider that the $15 price of admission buys you two trips within 30 days, it's even a real steal - or a super steal, when the $15 becomes a variable contribution on Wednesday nights.…
Rembrandt in Boston. Pick the category that you want to see. You can't do the Museum of Fine Arts in a day. Great for schools studying Greek and/or Egyptian history.
