Exhibitions

Vibrant shows fill our three exhibition spaces and change every Fall, Winter, and Summer. There is always something new to see at the Gardner!

The Gardner Museum offers new special exhibitions each season. Schedules are subject to change. 
All press inquiries should be submitted to press@isgm.org

Winter/Spring 2026 Exhibitions

Imagine you could be a different version of yourself. What parts of your identity might you reinvent? This winter/spring, three exhibitions explore the concept of persona and what its creation and depiction may reveal about an artist, their society, and ourselves. 

Black and white photo of Isabella Stewart Gardner holding a book in her hand.
Fenway Gallery

Picturing Isabella

February 19—June 21, 2026

Word logo for Persona Photography and the Re-imagined Self
Hostetter Gallery

Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self

February 19—May 10, 2026

A woman in a sleeveless turquois long dress standing in a classical, stone building holding a baby doll with a small child hiding behind her.
Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade

Jamie Diamond: Monstra Te Esse Matrem, 2026

February 10—July 28, 2026

Programs

Collage of photos
Patrons

Friends of Fenway Court Patron Preview

February 17, 2026

Patrons enjoy early access to the upcoming Winter/Spring exhibitions before they open to the public.

Collage of photos with the text "Member Preview"
Members

Member Preview Day

February 18, 2026

Members enjoy early access before the exhibitions open to the public

Collage of photos with the text 'Member Opening Celebration".
Members

Member Opening Celebration

February 18, 2026

Celebrate our new exhibitions while enjoying a glass of wine and a welcome from the curator.

Three separate images of two men and one woman
Public Program

Persona: An Exploration in Four Parts

February 19, 2025

Join us on the opening night of the new exhibition Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self for a conversation examining “persona” with the curators and three of the exhibiting artists. 

Collage of photos with text
Members

Member Exhibitions Insight Tour

February 28, 2026

Tour the special exhibitions in person with a Museum Teacher and a small group of members.

Collage of photos and the title Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self
Members

A Virtual Member Moment

March 18, 2026

Join the curators for a virtual conversation about Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self.

Collage of photos
Public Program

Self-Reflections: An Ekphrastic Poetry Workshop

March 19, 2026

Experience Persona: Photography and the Re-Imagined Self through ekphrasis, the practice of creating poetry in response to a work of visual art.

Four black and white, tintype photos of three women and one man
Art Making

Studio Workshop: Portraiture with Evoke Tintype

March 22, 2026

Explore historic tintype photography in the exhibition Picturing Isabella and create your own portrait through this historic photography method with Evoke Studios. 

Four black and white, tintype photos of three women and one man
Art Making

Studio Workshop: Portraiture with Evoke Tintype

April 16, 2026

Explore historic tintype photography in the exhibtion Picturing Isabella and create your own portrait through this historic photography method with Evoke Studios. 

Collage of photos with text
Members

Member Exhibitions Insight Tour

April 18, 2026

Tour the special exhibitions in person with a Museum Teacher and a small group of members.

Collage of photos with text
Members

Member Exhibitions Insight Tour

May 9, 2026

Tour the special exhibitions in person with a Museum Teacher and a small group of members.

Fall 2025 Exhibitions

The crossroads of humanity and holiness meet in the works of lifelong Bostonian Allan Rohan Crite (1910–2007), who will at long last be at the center of an exhibition in a major Boston museum. Presented in collaboration with the Boston Athenaeum, Allan Rohan Crite: Urban Glory will raise questions of whose legacy is preserved and what stories a metropolis reveals—and pay homage to a seminal African American artist whose work celebrated, recorded, and spoke to Boston’s Black community. 

An ornate alterpiece centered around a black-skinned Madonna
Fenway Gallery

Visions of Black Madonnas

Closed January 19, 2026

A parade of African American musicians march down a street with African American residents with people watching from the windows of adjacent brownstone buildings
Hostetter Gallery

Allan Rohan Crite: Urban Glory

Closed January 19, 2026

A large image on the facade of the Museum with a very tall, African American man with white hair standing among smaller groups of people, holding a paint palette.
Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade

Robert T. Freeman: Allan Crite - American Griot, 2025

October 23, 2025 – February 10, 2026

Closing February 10, 2026 

Past Exhibitions

Take a look back at our past exhibitions. 

Past Exhibitions