Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Paul Gauguin · 1897
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Boston · Founded 1870
Gauguin's great Tahitian canvas asking where we come from, plus Renoir, Sargent and one of the best Japanese collections in the West. Thirty dollars, and 450,000 works — the twentieth-largest gallery space of any museum in the world.
- 1M
- Visitors a year
- 1870
- Founded
- $30
- Admission
- Closed Tue
- Daily opening hours
36 works from this collection play free on your TV, phone or tablet. Press play and one starts now.
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Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Paul Gauguin · 1897
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is an 1897–98 painting by French artist Paul Gauguin. The painting was created in Tahiti and is in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. Viewed as a masterpiece by Gauguin, the painting is considered "a philosophical work comparable to the themes of the Gospels".
Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin
Rogier van der Weyden · c. 1435–1440
Dance at Bougival
Pierre-Auguste Renoir · 1883
Dance at Bougival is an 1883 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, currently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Described as "one of the museum's most beloved works", it is one of three in a collection commissioned by Paul Durand-Ruel. It depicts a scene in the French village of Bougival, about 15 km from the center of Paris, a site utilized by many Impressionists besides Renoir including Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Berthe Morisot.
The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit
1882
The Slave Ship
J. M. W. Turner · 1840
J. M. W. Turner, 1840. The Slave Ship, originally titled Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhon coming on, is a painting by the British artist J. M. W. Turner, first exhibited at The Royal Academy of Arts in 1840.
Madame Monet wearing a kimono
1876
Claude Monet, 1876. La Japonaise is an 1876 oil painting by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet. Painted on a 231.8 cm × 142.3 cm canvas, the full-length portrait depicts a European woman in a red uchikake kimono standing in front of a wall decorated by Japanese fans. Monet's first wife Camille Doncieux modeled for the painting.
Artists
Dutch · 1606–1669 · Dutch Golden Age painting
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, known mononymously as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art.
German · 1471–1528 · German Renaissance
Albrecht Dürer, sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance.
France · 1841–1919 · Impressionism
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a leading French Impressionist artist. In his depiction of feminine beauty, Renoir has been described as "the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland · 1828–1882
Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator.
Spain · 1599–1660
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish Baroque painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age.
Greek · 1541–1614 · Spanish Renaissance
Doménikos Theotokópoulos, most widely known as El Greco, was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time.
Artworks
Fray Hortensio Félix Paravicino
El Greco · 1609
Prince Balthasar Charles With a Dwarf
Diego Velázquez · 1631
Artist in his studio
Rembrandt · 1628
Bocca Baciata
Dante Gabriel Rossetti · 1859
The Roulin Family
Vincent van Gogh · 1888
Adam and Eve
Albrecht Dürer · 1504
Watson and the Shark
John Singleton Copley · 1778
Band of dervishes preparing and drinking an intoxicating draft
1610
The Annunciation
1605
Plan your visit
Hours
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Thursday and Friday, 10am to 10pm. Closed Tuesday, and closed on New Year’s Day, Patriots’ Day, the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Confirm on www.mfa.org before you travel.
Admission
30 dollars for adults. Free for children 6 and under.
Getting there
Huntington Avenue 465.
On their own site
Opening hours, tickets and current exhibitions are on the museum’s own site.
More guides to explore
Invite Museum of Fine Arts, Boston into your living room
36 works from this collection are available on Momentable, free to view, on your TV, phone, or tablet.
