This summer, the Museum opens a reinstalled—and reimagined—gallery dedicated to its collection of Islamic art, one of the most important in the United States. This exciting new space is the result of an eight-year collaborative process led by Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, exemplifying a broader Museum-wide commitment to building stronger community consultation and engagement, a key initiative of the Museum’s strategic plan, MFA 2020. Laura worked with Museum staff, visitors, local Islamic organizations, and other community groups to devise an innovative and engaging gallery designed to expand how visitors see and understand the rich variety of objects produced in Islamic lands.

“Islamic art” designates not only works of art meant to aid in Islamic devotion, but also objects produced in lands where Islam is or has been the dominant religion. “I am aware that the term ‘Islamic art’ makes people think that it is all ceremonial,” Laura says, “but that is not the case.” The MFA has about 5,000 Islamic objects, including paintings, manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, glass, and textiles from countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. The collection was established in 1877, only seven years after the Museum was founded, with the gift of a magnificent ivory-inlaid minbar (pulpit) door made in Cairo. Another early acquisition was the 1914 purchase of the Goloubew Collection, the most comprehensive collection of Islamic paintings in the West at that time.

The MFA’s innovative reinstallation employs a range of display strategies to challenge preconceptions and to promote tolerance and cultural understanding. The space encourages visitors to engage with a series of vignettes—dramatically varied in design, approach, and content, but consistently extraordinary in quality. Light-sensitive paintings will be rotated every six months, and textiles rotated annually, so visitors have the opportunity to experience the depth and breadth of the collection. Laura’s vision for the gallery was informed by a visitor study, completed in the summer of 2018, as well as the latest research in the field of museum interpretation.

To learn more about the 100 most important works in the MFA’s collection of Islamic art, look for Ink, Silk, and Gold: Islamic Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in the Main Bookstore and Shop.

On September 24, we hope Patrons will take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about this new installation during our Patron Season Opener event.