I'm taking a trip to Boston in mid-September and am interested in going to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

How much time would you allow for each of these? I know it depends on one's pace and all, but just in general. I'm finding that so much in Boston interests me, so it would help to have an idea of timing. I do believe my husband thinks I'm overscheduling!

Also, do you know if they have any Georgia O'Keeffe's or Impressionists? Those are personal favorites of mine. Thanks for any info. you can provide.

MFA and ISG are close to one another. websites may give you collection info.
MFA is big and will take several hours; ISG is much smaller--a couple of hours might do it. MFA has an Impressionist collection.

MFA has a really great permanent collection, one can easily spend the better part of a day there. Plan to spend at least half a day at the MFA. It is a great museum.

Try to go for lunch at the Gardner Museum. It's a lovely setting and the food is wonderful (ingredients from local farms).

We also took a docent-guided tour at the Gardner which was excellent. Check the website for tour times.

WE are art museum buffs, so it was easy for us to spend most of the day at the 2 museums (eg, 10-12:30 MFA, 1-2 lunch at Gardner, 1 hr docent tour, then 3-4 Gardner on our own etc.)

Consider adding new Institute of Contemporary Art to your list of possibilities.

Thanks, everyone - I'm a huge museum buff too, so this helps a lot. Thanks for the tip about lunch, as well - sounds wonderful.

Both museums are great. MFA is well worth a 1/2 day trip, as another poster suggested. You won't be disappointed. You can have lunch there, too.

ISA was my favorite. It was Isabella's home and personal collection, so it isn't your average museum. You'll love it! You'll need at a couple of hours to do it justice.

Boston's Public Library is also a really interesting building. Check it out, too, if you have time.

http://www.bpl.org/guides/history.htm

Enjoy!

I usually need a full day at the MFA and have a leisurely lunch there. You can brown bag and eat in the outdoor garden area or eat there.

Generally, they have a few O'Keefe's and a whole room + of impressionists works - very expansive collection.

I can go thru the ISG in a couple hours.

If you love museums you should familiarize yourself with their web pages first, it will help you gather an idea of how long you would want at each one for your personal ineterests - if any special exhibits ongoing, etc.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner is one of my favorites museums, but as much for the building and garden/courtyard as for the collections she chose.

I've been at least two dozen times and still find things I didn't see before - but in a traveling/visiting world, I would say you should give it at least 2 solid hours. If you don't do the docent route, make sure you either print out material from the site ahead of time, or visit the guide desk after you've entered and pick up the brochure too.

Lunch is lovely there, but for me it dpends on the weather, if it is 'close', humid, rainy - then I usually do not enjoy it in there as I feel as if I am in a solarium - if it's a lovely day it is a perfect spot.

The MFA, which is a short walk away (and you can take the same T stop for both) could also take days and days, so again, if you take time on their web page you can gauge about what you would like -
but I would say at least 3-4 hours.

You can also lunch at several spots within the MFA, and/or have dinner there also . They have pianist in Bravo and also a schedule of nightly concerts in the courtyard and otehr special film series, etc.

If it's a nice Sept night, eating on the patio at Bravo is also nice if you end up doing the museums later in the day.

The ICA on the waterfront you could combine with the maybe one of the harbor trips you were inquiring about on your other thread - depending on the weather, do a harbor tour early and ICA in afternoon or vice versa - I believe Thurs nights at ICA are free nights, which means it can be more crowded but still might be worth making note of depending on when you are in town.

I think I mentioned the Sargent Murals in the BPL on the ohter thread, you would find these interesting after seeing the MFA too.

Too bad you are going to miss the Hopper exhibit - it ends at the MFA Aug 19. But art buffs who are visiting might want to get tickets in advance.

It pays to pay attention here. Thanks for the tip about the Hopper exibit.

Thanks for the information - both museums look wonderful; I did see the info. about the Hopper exhibit on the website and am sorry we'll miss that. The ISG looks really charming, so I'm looking forward to touring both.

I told my husband if he goes to the museums with me, I'll go to a Red Sox game or Pats game with him. I'm secretly looking forward to it, but still getting points - LOL. Sticker shock at ticket prices though - especially because the Yankees are in town. Thanks again for all the help; this board is great.

I was at the MFA about a month ago and the O'keefes were not there, they were part of a traveling exhibit.
The Fogg Art Museum at Harvard is a hidden gem. Unless you prefer contemporary art, I would put it ahead of a trip to the ICA. The Fogg has a room of 19th century French painters along with Picasso.