harvard art museums

Don't overlook this gem. It doesn't get the publicity of the MFA or PEM but it is no less important. N.B. unlike other educational museums (e.g. Yale) there is a $13.00 admission fee.

The newly reopened museum is beautiful and worth a trip. However, there are no docents, which is a problem. While student guides are being trained, it is still not the same. Bathe modern well lit atrium would benefit from some floral arrangements. The cafe menu is limited- coffee or tea? The gift shop is minimal.

My son thought - what could a college museum have? Well, a room full of Monets and other great impressionists, for one. Its not a big place, but the collection is quite outstanding and diverse - western painting and sculpture Medieval to recent; Islamic, Japanese and Chinese art and artifacts, and Colonial US. portraits (You'll recognize George). There's a set of rather less impressive German stuff from the old Busch-Reisinger Museum. Its all well organized and presented with little artsy explanations of the pieces.

My wife who is an Art Conservator, recommended I visit the Fogg and the other Harvard museums while I was in Cambridge with her. I did not know much. I came away really impressed with the collection at these museums. While not a huge collection nor a huge museum it was "intimate" and the displays were really well done. ... the Masters they have is extraordinary. They had a special Rothko exhibition that was amazing. This is a must go, must do.

All new spaces for the art of the centuries. New exhibit space and reorganized presentation of the art work. Check to see what days are free for the general public, but if you are a Cambridge resident it is free.

The Harvard art museums have been united in a new building, and the results are fantastic. Much more light and space, with a very nice flow, and they are employing the new techniques and styles of presentation that make museums so much more enjoyable than they used to be. For example, some objects are grouped with contrasting things -- different media, different periods, different countries of origin, and so on -- which is extremely stimulating. Looking at Chinese jar after Chinese jar can be a bit wearying, but having it beside a Renoir and a Tiki idol really wakes you up.

The art museums just reopened and they've been joined into 1 large building. They have some exceptional pieces on display. The layout is very odd. On each floor you go from European Art to Islamic Art to Japanese Art to Modern Art from room to room. If you think of taking 4 distinct museums, joining them but then making it difficult to access the exhibits from floor to floor vertically, that's what you've got. It's hard to concentrate on one type of art at a time.But let's be honest, it's Harvard and they have benefitted from very generous alums. It's worth a visit.

Harvard has consolidated three museums, the Fogg, the Sackler and the Busch-Reisinger , under one very stunning glass roof. The gathered collections are impressive. The Wertheim collection of Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic paintings is outstanding.

While I didn't pay admission because my friend is a member of an affiliated museum group, I would say that whatever you end up paying will be worth it. This is a perfectly fantastic thing to do when you visit Cambridge and Harvard University. The collection is fantastic, I particularly enjoyed the Monets and other Impressionists; but the new building is an attraction in itself, and simply put, will blow you away. Make sure to take the elevator to the 4th floor studios, and look out through the glassed in offices and their windows to the Boston city skyline! And also look down through the glass walls to all the floors below, built around an inner courtyard-very hard to describe but you will certainly appreciate what I mean when you see it. This is quite simply a highlight of any trip to Cambridge, Mass.

The building is called "museums" because the University combined three museums. I went there with a group of 15 and all of us were blown away by the new building, the depth of the collection, and the range of art. Although we did not ask, we heard that anyone can request a personal viewing of individual pieces in one of the upstairs rooms. Cambridge residents get free admission and Massachusetts residents get free admission on Saturday mornings. Contact the museum in advance and ask when they will change the lighting on the Rothko items. In seconds, you will learn a lot about the impact of sunlight on art. Parking isn't easy, but you might get lucky and find a place on the street (not easy this week due to multiple snowstorms).

Some reviewers have rightly lamented the passing of the more "hallowed" spaces of the Fogg & Busch Reisinger, but the new space provides a stronger sense of immediacy & access to the superb collection. Very few pieces are behind plexiglass, & the variety & quality are awesome without being overwhelming. A wonderful way to stimulate your brain, & a real privilege to wander the almost deserted museum on a snowy day! My only regret is not having taken more art courses when I was a student here.

This is a world class art museum. I was in awe. Art lovers will not be disappointed. Monet, Degas, Picasso, Pollack, Munch, O'Keefe, Matisse. And many more. It is a beautiful new space.

If you have not been to the Fogg lately - go! Under its new name "Harvard Art Museums" and remodeled venue, the majestic art work amassed over centuries by the world's best endowed learning institution finally has a home commensurate to its import. Their impressionist paintings including, all time favorites like Cezanne, Monet, Gaugin, and of course Van Gogh are breathtaking. But don't stop there. Renaissance art is alive and well at the Fogg, as is their Japanese, Ancient Greek, and other collections.

One can never dispute the quality of the Harvard Art Museums' holdings--exceptional from ancient to modern, Asian to Italian and as rich in sculpture, drawings, ceramics and textiles as in paintings. It is hardly a 'university study collection' but represents instead a world-class museum where young people study. At the same time, it has always been distinguished by its accessibility, warmth and vitality. In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, I studied there (it is where I did my doctorate), worked there as a student and loved the openness and intimacy of the place. Clearly, modern public institutions need to change, but does the Beaux Arts exterior have to be in such stark contradiction with its interior? Did Moneo have to scrub the patina off the courtyard to make it look like a bland new facade? Did the large, separate galleries have to be sacrificed to an open program of installation that seemed to have no clear itinerary? Did the big stairway to the second floor galleries, offices and classrooms have to be reduced to a stingy little staircase worthy of Ikea? ( There are at least two, but the effect is the same). For the installation of the collection, one must turn to the curatorial staff. Is it really still necessary to show American 18th c. silver next to American Indian 'wampum'? As a person of Indian (Cherokee) heritage, I found it an unnecessary and forced connection.For the beautiful upper classrooms, studio spaces and state of the art conservation labs, Moneo did a wonderful job integrating them without losing the light in the atrium of the building or destroying the exterior present of the building. i only wish he could have preserved the time-worn intimacy and warmth of the lower floors.

This was an odd experience. I walked up a ramp leading to the museum, opened a door, which I noticed, after I got in, was clearly not a main entrance, walked past 2 museum personnel engaged in a private conversation, wandered 2 floors of galleries, encountering only one preoccupied guard, and then left by the door I came in without ever finding the main entrance or finding out what it cost. It is an interesting collection. Most periods of Western European art history are represented, there is a small but rich Asian collection and an interesting collection of pieces from the Islamic world. I will go again with a more information about the entrance!