Fall Arts Events in Boston: Salvador Dalí & Manet
Where to go and what to see for your fall arts fix.
Dalí: Disruption and Devotion
Famous for his bizarre imagery, eccentric behavior, and unrivaled technical skill, the outlandish artist Salvador Dalí was also deeply rooted in tradition. The first-ever exhibition of work by Dalí at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) examines this sustained engagement with European art of the past. The exhibition presents nearly 30 paintings and works on paper on loan from the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as books and prints from a private collection, which are shown alongside works from the MFA’s European collection made by artists who inspired him. Highlights include The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952–1954), a reworking of Dalí’s single most famous picture, painted two decades earlier, which shows his preoccupation with the elasticity of time.
Through 12/24, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-267-9300, mfa.org.
The exhibit on display at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC, 2022. / Photo courtesy of Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Gun Violence Memorial Project
A collaboration between Boston-based MASS Design Group and Songha & Company, where artist Hank Willis Thomas is creative director, in partnership with the gun violence prevention organization Purpose Over Pain, the Gun Violence Memorial Project on view now at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston was launched at the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial. It comprises four glass houses, each built of 700 transparent bricks, a reference to the average number of gun deaths every week in the United States. Many of the bricks hold remembrance objects such as baby shoes, graduation tassels, and photographs offered by families in honor of loved ones whose lives have been taken due to gun violence. These living memorials invite us to view the impact of gun violence through individual personal narratives.
Through 1/20/25, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston, 617-478-3100, icaboston.com.
Isabella’s treasured Manet, Madame Auguste Manet, is an oil on canvas portrait of the artist’s mother / Photo courtesy of Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Manet: A Model Family
Anchored by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s painting Madame Auguste Manet (1863–1866), this is the first exhibition dedicated to Édouard Manet’s depictions of his family. Bringing together significant loans from Europe and the United States—19 oil paintings and 24 works on paper—the show investigates the complexity of the artist’s family situation and, through this lens, sheds new light on his genre-defying artwork. Some of these works have never been shown in the U.S. before and have had very limited public viewing. The show’s emphasis on family presents a unique opportunity for contemporary audiences to connect with historic art: understanding and empathizing with these familial complexities will allow audiences to engage with Manet’s work in new ways beyond the traditional narrative that focuses on presenting the artist as an inspiration for the Impressionists and a founder of modern art. The artist’s mother is the subject of the major Manet portrait in the museum’s collection, which was one of Gardner’s most prized acquisitions. For this exhibition, the painting was the subject of its inaugural comprehensive conservation study and has received a transformative cleaning—its first since the 1970s.
10/10–1/20/25, 25 Evans Way, Boston, 617-566-1401, gardnermuseum.org.
First published in the print edition of Boston Home’s Fall 2024 issue, with the headline “Happenings.”
