Whether you're looking for time spent with friends, date ideas, activities for kids, or if you simply want some indoor me-time to reflect and help reignite that creative spark—you'll find it at the MFA. Satisfy your cultural appetite with an abundance of fun activities at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, including ever-changing exhibitions, sparkling new galleries, engaging lectures, concerts, and films. At the MFA, finding activities this weekend (and all week long) is easy. The hard part is choosing!
Great Boston Date Ideas
MFA First Fridays
Gather some friends or come solo and meet new people with potential. Either way, you’re bound to have fun at our popular monthly cocktail party. Added convenience: advance tickets now available.Dining
Looking for date ideas? Book a table for two at Bravo, and enjoy Executive Chef Tim Partridge’s seasonally inspired, artfully prepared cuisine with an emphasis on sustainable, local ingredients. Or drop-in anytime at the New American Café, located in the soaring Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard.Ongoing
The Postcard Age: Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection
Swap out the same old date night for something new and improved—and creative! Our wide variety of exhibitions offer lots of choices of attractions for couples looking to add some culture and fun. Start by taking a stroll through time with “The Postcard Age: Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection,” and explore the streets, curiosities, and every day life of the city of love—Paris—circa 1900.Visiting Masterpieces: Cézanne’s The Large Bathers
Bring your sweetie to enjoy two of the great masterpieces of French painting hanging side by side. Together for the first time in Boston, Cézanne’s The Large Bathers and Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? present radically different visions of the idealized nude in earthly paradise. How romantic!Fun and Free—Find Great Activities for Kids and Families in Boston
Free admission for kids
Trying to find fun cultural activities for toddlers and kids in Boston? Children 6 and under always visit for free. And kids ages 7 to 17 are free during nonschool hours (including snow days!).Ongoing
School Vacation Week Activities
Bring the kids to the MFA for a Cogan Family Foundation Vacation Week Adventure chock-full of free family activities. Listen to some stories, make some art, and most of all, have some fun! Are you working or do your little artists want to stay a while? Pre-register them now for one of our vacation-week studio art classes for children. Drop them off and let the creativity begin!Boston International Children’s Film Festival
Co-presented with the New York International Children’s Film Festival, lauded for “redefining what kids' entertainment can be" (Time Out New York), this festival features intelligent, passionate, and provocative cinematic works for ages 3 to 18. Tickets on sale mid-March 2013.MFA Playdates
Little kids are a big deal at the Museum of Fine Arts, and we’ve put together mornings filled with free activities for toddlers, including story time and gallery adventures. Bring your toddlers (age 4 and under) and join the fun. Older siblings welcome too!Children’s Spring Studio Art Classes
Classes available for children ages 4–5, 5–6, 7–8, and 9–11, and meet once a week for 10 sessions. Don’t miss these great art activities for kids at the MFA.Samurai! Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection
Explore another culture with your child, and discover the heroic stories and elaborate artistry of armor worn by Japan’s warrior class.And be sure to look for more fun cultural activities for kids like Samurai Saturdays in May, with great art-making activities for kids, a a samurai film series, the creator of the popular Usagi Yojimbo comic, tasty bento box lunches, and more.
Summer Weekly Journeys through Art
The MFA has some incredible art activities for kids in Boston, and sessions in our weekly summer journeys are filling up quickly. Half and whole days available, with supervised lunches for children taking both morning and afternoon classes. Groups of up to 12 children can discover new places and cultures; visit our galleries; and draw, paint, sculpt, collage, print, and more. Register your budding artist today.Me-time! Introspective and Indoor Activities
Adult Studio Art Classes
Whether you’re new to art, or advanced in your skills and seeking a creative challenge, studio art classes are an affordable, fun way to explore new media, improve your technique, and meet fellow art enthusiasts! Multiple-week sessions and flexible weekend workshops available.Lectures and Courses
Enrich your knowledge and impress your friends with lectures and courses that feature artists and art experts from around the world. Enjoy in-depth explorations of exhibitions and timely topics all week long. On Sundays, enjoy a broad range of special events including the MFA–Boston Lyric Opera Signature Series, a lively program of performance and discussion inspired by some of your favorite operas; a free lecture about Jewish Life and Judaica in Colonial America; and much more!Japan: A Cultural History of the Land of the Rising Sun course
Take a journey through Japanese cultural history, from the feudal past to the pop-centric present. This 10-week course is inspired by the MFA’s superlative collection of Japanese works—the largest in the world outside Japan—and the spectacular artistry found in the exhibition "Samurai! Armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection."Messages from the Postcard Age: Lauder Postcards lecture
Cosmetic titan Leonard Lauder collected thousands of postcards from an early age. Join us as he shares his personal insights and passion of the hunt. A book signing follows the talk, as well as the chance to view "The Postcard Age," featuring highlights from his collection.EXHIBITION ON VIEW THROUGH APR 14
What Makes a Masterpiece? course
Experts in visual art, music, and film inspire us to contemplate how we define mastery. Evaluate the subtleties that take a work from good to extraordinary in this three-session course.The Critical Fortunes of Paul Cézanne lecture
Hear about Cézanne’s legacy from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s curator Joseph Rishel as the MFA welcomes one of the artist’s last great paintings, The Large Bathers—the most monumental work in Cézanne’s bathers series—as part of the Museum’s Visiting Masterpieces program.Michelangelo as Draftsman lecture
Join the British Museum’s Hugo Chapman, a world expert on Michelangelo’s graphic work, for an intimate look at the master’s drawings in the exhibition, opening April 21, "Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane, Master Drawings from the Casa Buonarroti."EXHIBITION ON VIEW APR 21–JUN 30