Past Exhibitions

Touching Roots
Black Ancestral Legacies in the Americas

May 26, 2022–July 30, 2023

Africa is at once a point of origin and a myriad of associations—real and imagined—for many Black artists working in the Americas. In the 20th century...

Philip Guston Now

May 1–September 11, 2022

Experience a retrospective of Philip Guston’s work, from Depression-era muralist and painter to contemporary master and voice for social justice.

Turner’s Modern World

March 27–July 10, 2022

See more than 100 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sketchbooks by J. M. W. Turner, including the MFA’s own Turner painting Slave Ship.

Weng Family Collection of Chinese Painting: Art Rocks

March 26, 2022–November 27, 2023

Celebrating a landmark gift of Chinese art 翁氏家藏精品展·第三期：奇石拙趣 In China, rocks in their natural form are objects of great aesthetic appreciation. As far...

Real Photo Postcards
Pictures from a Changing Nation

March 17–July 25, 2022

In 1903, at the height of the worldwide craze for postcards, the Eastman Kodak Company unveiled a new product: the postcard camera. The device exposed...

Dawoud Bey: Night Coming Tenderly, Black

February 2–November 13, 2022

Throughout his long career, American artist Dawoud Bey (b. 1953) has reimagined history by bringing untold stories to the forefront of his work. Best...

Tattoos in Japanese Prints

November 20, 2021–February 20, 2022

Some of the world’s most popular tattoo motifs trace back to early 19th-century Edo (modern Tokyo), where tattoo artists took inspiration from color...