True to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is:
to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection;
to cultivate talent in the pursuit of knowledge and acts of creation in the arts and humanities;
to support artists, landscape architects, musicians, scholars, and students; and
to engage local and global audiences in a sanctuary of beauty and the arts where deeply personal and communal adventures unfold.
—Adopted by the Board of Trustees, 2014