My Identity is a personal and political self-portrait. Through four photographs, it suggests that even as the artist experiences 20th- and 21st…

Well before American women had the right to vote, some used quilts to express their political persuasion. This expertly pieced composition features an…

This coin, known as the Eid Mar or "Ides of March," is the most historically and politically significant in the MFA’s distinctive collection of more…

The forthcoming anniversary of the World War I Armistice, known as Veterans Day, presents an opportunity to pause and reconsider war’s costs and…

This photograph dates from the early days of the medium, and is one of the first examples of the political use of photography. It was taken by Joseph…

I first encountered one of Sargent’s preliminary sketches for The Unveiling of Truth, part of his grand murals in the MFA’s Rotunda, when I was an art…

In 1660 the States General—a body of delegates representing the provinces of the Dutch Republic—presented 28 paintings (most by Italian masters), 12…

This monumental candlestick was intended as part of a large diplomatic gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qājār, then ruler of Persia.

When Mizuno Toshikata’s image was circulated in a literary magazine in October 1904, Japanese readers were well aware that their country was engaged…

Having been familiar with Eldzier Cortor’s delicately layered, nostalgic painting style, I was shocked and moved by his viscerally intense print…