The Museum of Fine Arts store

If you're not from Boston but you plan on going at some point in your life, you MUST (this is an order) go to the Museum of Fine Arts. It isn't a massive 3 mile (or was it km?) monster like the Louvre, nor is it almost imposingly modern and chic like the Met or the Guggenheim, but it is truly a fine museum. The art there is just beautiful, plain and simple, and while some of the collections may be a little small the diversity and quality are unbeatable.

I've traveled a lot. I've been to the Uffizi in Florence. I stared at the Mona Lisa.

I am convinced that THIS


Renoir, Dance at Bougival

is THE most beautiful piece of artwork on Earth. No digital image online, no print in a book can do it justice. You have to, HAVE TO, see it in real life...and here it is, in my own back yard, at Boston's MFA, where I have stared at it until my eyes blurred. There are some impressive Monets, Degas, Van Goughs, Picassos...who cares? This painting is the end all be all, I swear. It glows in real life, GLOWS. It's really unimpressive when you look at it online by comparison.

So why mention this on a shopping blog?

Because the MFA has a STORE of course!

There's a large location inside the museum itself, the online shop, and then at least one smaller location I've been frequenting at the Faneuil Hall shopping area because it's near where I work in government center.

The MFA store is good shopping, if a little pricey, because it offers unique pieces directly inspired by the art. You won't find things like that elsewhere. Frankly, I've always been a fan of museum stores, when it comes, literally, to The Museum Store or to the tiny but always fascinating shop at the lesser known Morikami Museum and Gardens in Boca Raton, Florida (also highly recommended, bring a camera and comfy shoes - as for the shop, I got a GORGEOUS bamboo fiber oblong scarf featuring monochromatic images of...bamboo! and omg the kimono are beautiful) precisely because they offer pieces that make statements without the cliche of being a pre-labeled "statement piece."

I find that museum shop selections are often, well, curated, with the ideals and purviews of the museum itself in mind. And then there's the lushness of being inspired by art. I remember they had an incredible art deco exhibit at the MFA a few years ago and they set up a separate gift shop just to go with the exhibit - it was wonderful. Cloche hats and geometric silk scarves and wind up, stylized silver airplane desk toys that looked similar to the ones in the old, brightly colored travel posters promising the lush, tropical ocean air of the South Pacific...

And MAGNETS! Boy do museum stores like their magnets. I've plastered them all over my cubicle at work.

A few selections from the MFA store online I particularly enjoy (it's interesting - pricing is always unexpected - great deals on things like stationery and jewelry, and then you turn around and a magnet is $8)...


The MFA has an incredible selection of Asian pieces, with a gallery dedicated to ancient Asian sculpture near the antiquities and Egyptian relics, and then an entire wing dedicated to a wide range of modern East Asian artwork including oversized buddhas, kimono, Chinese bottles and caligraphy, swords, and Korean stonewear...

No wonder the MFA store features a variety of striking scarves with just a touch of the art deco or art nouveau in them, such as this phoenix scarf ...




Sumptuous tapestry-based pillows - normally I'd consider pillows like this to be old hat but these are particularly well done...




A handbag featuring a traditional tree-of-life motif from a past exhibit on Assyria



And OF COURSE....BOSTON KITSCH!


I just found one of these at the bottom of my purse the other day o_O (Boston hasn't used T tokens in a few years now since they switched to plastic cards - prolly gonna be worth something some day)


Memories of Boston trivet...


Boston Common Ornament...with the Statehouse - Paul Revere did the original metalwork on that, you know - and I interned there last semester!


They also sell Make Way for Ducklings :D