Do you ever feel more American, patriotic and historic than in beautiful Yankee Boston?  I for one, do not.

The scale of “The Passage of the Delaware” mural was breathtaking.  I felt red white and blue all over.

It was the very first piece installed in the first new gallery.  Here is an amazing behind the scenes look at it’s meticulous step by step installation:

The bright colonial blue painted walls are magnificent, and the perfect backdrop for the federalist inspired art collection.

The Museum of Fine Art’s brand new, just unveiled expansion is a spectacular new wing for the Art of the Americas collection, which will double the number of objects from the collection on view, including several large-scale masterpieces not displayed for decades.

It is simply a brilliant idea to highlight the significance of the American Artist.  Why hasn’t anyone else thought of this visual discovery, decade by decade?

The new wing takes a global perspective on Art of the Americas, showcasing more than 5,000 works of art produced in North, Central, and South America over the course of three millennia. Art in all media is arranged chronologically on four floors. The wing’s 53 brand-new galleries include nine beautiful period rooms – each of which was simply jaw dropping in it’s design.

This large gallery above, hung in the period style of a typical Parisian Salon highlights American painters and sculptors who traveled to Europe, absorbing the Old Masters, European sites and monuments, and the lessons of then contemporary art.

Level 1 focuses on early American art produced primarily in New England and the Northeast. These galleries prominently feature paintings, furniture, silver, textiles, and prints from colonial Boston and other regions, as well as art of the United States created in the decades after the American Revolution.

Don’t you love the alternating colonial color palette of New England brick red and Williamsburg blue?

Not only was this Chinoiserie toile wall to die for – but this is a study in the traditional English dining chair, as evolved into our own American version (narrower, taller) of domestic design.  Fascinating.

Ahhhh…this wall is just…pure genius.

John Singer Sargent’s “Daughters of Edward Darley Boit” dominates, perfectly paired with a gorgeous, patterned taupe brocade wall. The Boits’ enormous blue and white Chinese vases, memorialized in the famous painting, flank it like two stoic sentries. It is like watching poetry.

Works of art featured on Level 2 evoke ways in which 19th-century American culture and art were shaped by the growth and development of the nation.

This darling painting, “Calm Morning”, was my personal favorite.  Nantucket, MA…take me away…

If I had to choose a painting to jump into, this would be my instant choice.  Who doesn’t need a daily dose of calm, especially at this hectic holiday season?

Moving into yet another gallery, sits the stunning 70 image Brown Sisters vignette.  Since 1975, photographer Nicholas Nixon has made a group portrait of the four Brown sisters every single year. Over 35 years, he has posed Heather, Mimi, Bebe, and Laurie in the same order, recording with an 8 x 10 view camera what look to be casual family album snapshots writ large. When he started the series, the Brown sisters, who grew up in Providence, were in their 20s. Now Heather, Mimi, Bebe, and Laurie are mature women in their 50s and 60s.

What a wonderful idea for a new family holiday tradition – to be kept and cataloged in similar fashion – for the ultimate family gift.

Last, I loved this white flocked “snowy” pine tree topiary.  Potted with a Biedermeier cuff of White Cyclamin, and adorned with hints of pearlescent glass baubles.  It was the perfect blend of winter and wonderland.

Happy Holidays are here, and everywhere.

Debi Lilly, aperfectevent.com