A silver bowl. A Founding Father memorialized at monumental scale. A charismatic silversmith considering his craft. A towering mahogany desk and bookcase. Certain paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and works on paper from the MFA’s Art of the Americas art collection, along with the artists who created them, played a pivotal role in shaping the early history of the United States. Today, as we approach 250 years since the country’s founding, they likewise have a unique ability to recount and reflect that history while also inviting us to reconsider it.
Coinciding with the 250th anniversary of American Independence, the MFA is reimagining its 18th-century galleries on level one of the Art of the Americas Wing for the first time since they opened in 2010. The new display, which opens in June 2026, brings together works from across the Americas—integrating Native and non-native, North, South, and Central American, and Caribbean art—and explores how artists have contributed to, or in some cases resisted, ideas of nationhood and identity. Visitors can immerse themselves in a range of stories and experiences, discovering the interconnectedness of the Americas and its history, institutions, and people.
Gilbert Stuart’s unfinished portrait of George Washington (1796)—the foundational image of the nation’s first president in the public imagination—offers viewers a prescient reminder that democracy is constant work in progress. An early piece of American protest art, Paul Revere’s Sons of Liberty Bowl (1768) honors a group of Massachusetts rebels who paved the way for the Revolution. A ceramic jar (1857) by the enslaved potter and poet David Drake exemplifies literacy as an act of resistance in the decades before the Civil War. Thomas Sully drew on artistic traditions of heroism for The Passage of the Delaware (1819), which portrays George Washington in a dramatic scene of bravery. Meanwhile, a recently acquired work by Alan Michelson, a Mohawk member of Six Nations of the Grand River, offers a contemporary critique of Washington, who was known to the Mohawk Nation as “Town Destroyer.” These and the many other works on view reveal a past in dialogue with the present and propose endless possibilities for assessing history as we look ahead to the future.
The Revolution Reimagined
Leading up to the opening of the new galleries, hear from MFA staff, artists, and members of the wider community, in their own words, as they highlight American art from the collection and reflect on both the personal and historical meanings they carry.
Sons of Liberty Bowl
Ethan Lasser
April 1, 2025
In 2026 our country will turn 250 years old. To mark this milestone, the MFA is embarking on a monumental project: we are reimagining and reinstalling our galleries for 18th-century Art of the Americas. Standing front and center in this new display will be Paul Revere’s Sons of Liberty Bowl.
Goddess of Liberty Weather Vane
Nonie Gadsden
May 1, 2025
Originally designed as functional scientific objects, American weather vanes are now considered valuable examples of sculpture from early in the country’s history.
Featured Artwork
Thomas Sully, The Passage of the Delaware, 1819
Oil on canvas. Gift of the Owners of the old Boston Museum.
Fritz Scholder, Bicentennial Indian, 1976
Acrylic on canvas. The Peterson Family Collection.The Peterson Family Collection
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778
Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. George von Lengerke Meyer.
Dave (later recorded as David Drake), storage jar, 1857
Alkaline-glazed stoneware. Harriet Otis Croft Fund and Otis Norcroft Fund.
Unidentified artist, desk and bookcase, Mexican, mid-18th century
Inlaid woods and incised and painted bone, maque, gold, and plychrome paint, metal hardware. Henry H. and Zoe Olier Sherman Fund.
Paul Revere Jr., Sons of Liberty Bowl, 1768
Silver. Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution and Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912.
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, 1796
Oil on canvas. William Francis Warden Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Commonwealth Cultural Preservation Trust. Jointly owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.
Possibly by William G. Henis, Goddess of Liberty weather vane, 1860–80
Copper with traces of gilding. Gift of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf.
Gilbert Stuart, Martha Washington (Martha Dandridge Custis), 1796
Oil on canvas. William Francis Warden Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Commonwealth Cultural Preservation Trust. Jointly owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.
John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, 1768
Oil on canvas. Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere.
Attributed to Benjamin Randolph with carving attributed to John Pollard, tea table, about 1775
Mahogany. Gift of Barbara L. and Theodore B. Alfond.
Benjamin West, The Ambassador from Tunis with His Attendants as He Appeared in England in 1781, 1781
1781. Oil on canvas. A. Shuman Collection—Abraham Shuman Fund.
Opening Celebration, Programs, and More
Celebrate the new galleries with free admission to the MFA over two days, beginning on June 19, 2026, at the Museum’s annual Juneteenth open house, and continuing with a community celebration on June 20. Engage further with the galleries and their themes of resistance, liberty, and revolution through a slate of public programs, including lectures, a multisession course, City Talks, and more.
A number of other initiatives, developed in collaboration with community members and institutional partners, complement the galleries upon opening in 2026, including a multimedia tour, offered for free on the MFA Mobile on Bloomberg Connects app; a family guide centered around themes and artworks in the galleries; a forthcoming publication; and redeveloped teacher resources.
Museums 250
To celebrate the various American Revolution event anniversaries in 2025 prior to the reinstallation—from the firing of the first shots at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 to the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775—the MFA is partnering with the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism on their Museums 250 program. The initiative brings the state’s revolutionary story to life by highlighting objects in the Museum’s collection that are from the period or speak to the spirit of American independence. Beginning in May 2025, look look for special “MA250” stickers near certain works.