Art Tours in Boston

Only one of the most comprehensive art museums on the planet, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts boasts a collection of some half a million paintings, sculptures, textiles and other priceless eye candy. We’re talking 100 galleries crammed with everything from ancient Egyptian sarcophagi to Nubian pottery to masterpieces by some of the world’s greatest-ever artists, among them Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Gauguin, Kahlo and Turner. The MFA’s collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art is one of the finest outside of France, and features landmark pieces by Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir and others. And be sure not to miss John Singleton Copley’s portrait of local hero Paul Revere, maker of the historic Sons of Liberty Bowl.

The building that houses all this priceless treasure is something of a gem in itself, an imposing neoclassical confection complete with colonnades and a great dome adorned with elaborate frescoes by John Singer Sargent. You can learn all about the museum’s architecture and the art held within on daily tours. Tours with knowledgeable museum guides are free, but you’ll need to pay for general admission. Good news: tickets are included with a Boston pass from Go City, which could save you up to 50% on access to multiple Boston attractions, tours and activities. Hit the buttons below to find out more and bag your pass.

Though you’ll find several guided walking tours of Boston’s public art if you look hard enough for them, the city’s excellent Art Walk Project has made it easy to do it all by yourself, thanks to a series of maps that cover Downtown, Boston Common, Seaport, Fenway and several other vibrant and colorful neighborhoods. If statues are your bag, hit up Boston Common and Public Garden for selfies with George Washington, Edgar Allen Poe, and artist David Phillips’ series of six playful frog sculptures. Check out Jamaica Plain, Central Square and the Rose Kennedy Greenway for some of the best badass graffiti and street murals in Beantown. And head to Downtown for the city’s top architectural landmarks, including the early-19th-century Park Street Church, historic Quincy Market, and the strange Brutalist beauty of Boston City Hall. 

Visit the Art Walk Project website for comprehensive walking maps.

Built in the style of a Venetian Palace, this stunning museum surrounds a palatial courtyard, in which the ever-changing selection of seasonal blooms is almost the equal of the art held inside. Almost. The collection was started by Isabella Stewart Gardner over a century ago, with a view to displaying exquisite art in intimate spaces, and now boasts a collection of nearly 3,000 pieces, including priceless works by Botticelli, Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael, Degas, Sargent and more. An unsolved art heist in 1990 saw the theft of 13 works of art, including pieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer. The empty frames that continue to hang in their place awaiting their return have become a symbol of hope and something of an attraction in themselves. You can learn more about the theft, Gardner and key pieces from the collection on regular guided tours of the museum.

Top tip: General admission to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is included with the Go City Boston pass. Tours cost extra and can be booked direct here.

A short hop across the Charles River in Cambridge, the Harvard Art Museums comprises three separate museums with collections that run the gamut from ancient Byzantine pottery to Bauhaus design pieces via Old Masters including Rembrandt, Titian and Botticelli – and pretty much everything else in between! The museums – the Fogg, the Busch-Reisinger, and the Arthur M. Sackler – are part of Harvard University, so it stands to reason that tours here are run by the institution's brainbox students. The students come from a range of academic backgrounds including art history, literature and the sciences. As a result, their guided tours of the collections are always insightful, original and well-researched. 

Entry to the museums is free, as are the tours. You can browse a calendar of upcoming tours here.

Upscale Newbury Street should rank highly on any art-lover’s list of places to visit in Boston, thanks to the proliferation of hipper-than-thou galleries that line this pretty Back Bay boulevard. Take yourself on a wander to ogle some of the most cutting-edge contemporary art in town at galleries including the minimalist Krakow Witkin Gallery with its chilled vibe and cool conceptual art. Then there’s Galerie d’Orsay with its visual potpourri of mediums and styles, and the ever-changing roster of modern art exhibitions at the (appropriately named) DTR Modern. Don’t miss Gallery NAGA, set at Newbury Street’s historic Church of the Covenant, which focuses on paintings by contemporary Boston and New England artists, but also showcases sculpture, photography and even studio furniture.

The ICA is where it's at for the latest avant-garde works by established and up-and-coming artists. Protruding out over the harbor in the trendy Seaport District, this striking industrial-style edifice is another of those buildings that’s as much a work of art as the pieces contained within; all glass corridors and elevators that seem to float above the water below. Inside, 65,000 square feet of gallery and performance space plays host to a rotating roster of installations and exhibitions that showcase the best of the contemporary international art scene, as well as a permanent collection that features pieces by past exhibitors, notably Cornelia Parker’s signature ‘Hanging Fire’ sculpture and a superb series of photographs by Boston’s own Nan Goldin.

Guided visits to the ICA can be booked in advance. Check the official website for more details.