Picturing Isabella

When:
Closed today ▼
Thursday, Feb 19, 2026 11:00a -
Sunday, Jun 21, 2026 5:00p

Where:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
25 Evans Way
Boston, MA 02115

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
$22

Hosted by:
isgm Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Categories:
Art, History, Rainy Day Ideas

Event website:
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/picturing-isabella

How do you picture Isabella Stewart Gardner? The Museum’s founder came of age alongside photography, but as her celebrity rose, Isabella hid from the camera. She began to curate images of herself as carefully as the galleries of her Museum.


Through a lifetime of photographs, we can trace Isabella’s complicated and evolving relationship to her image, fame, and legacy. As a young woman, she was photographed in the formal style typical of her time. As she grew older, she deliberately cultivated a public persona that was both dramatic and enigmatic. When she did agree to be photographed, she worked only with collaborators she knew and trusted, and frequently appeared veiled or turned away from the camera, just an impression.


Picturing Isabella collects girlhood and travel photos, candids with friends and pets, posed studio images, newspaper clippings, and other archival materials to create a sketch of Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose camera-shy behavior guaranteed her Museum as her most enduring portrait. 

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02/19/2026 11:00:00 06/21/2026 17:00:00 America/New_York Picturing Isabella <p>How do you picture Isabella Stewart Gardner? The Museum’s founder came of age alongside photography, but as her celebrity rose, Isabella hid from the camera. She began to curate images of hersel...

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