Art patron Isabella Stewart Gardner set up her museum to give viewers the opportunity to view great works of art. Veronica Stivala speaks to Corinne Zimmermann about how the museum strives to continue her legacy.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Photo: Nic Lehoux

A portrait painting of Isabella Stewart Gardner hangs in the glorious Bostonian museum of the same name. The painting shows her in a flowing wispy white dress and an overly long chain necklace.

Standing in a doorway, Gardner’s arms are stretched wide, as if keeping the door panels apart.

In this painting by Anders Zorn the subject looks directly at the viewer; her very stance and facial expression shows us that she is a big character, a woman full of energy with a great zest for life.

And the museum, a building she had built specifically for her art collections and for people to enjoy, is testament to this.

I visited the museum in June to be bowled over not only by the collection, but also by the sheer beauty of the museum itself: a stunning 15th-century Venetian-style palace with three storeys of galleries surrounding a sun- and flower-filled courtyard.

The preeminent collection contains more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books and decorative arts.

The galleries house works by some of the most recognised artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent.

What is most interesting about this museum is that the works of art on display are not presented in typical museum style.

That is, they are not labelled and viewers must pick up and read information cards if they want to learn more.

Corinne Zimmermann, director of visitor learning, explains how in planning her museum, Gardner consciously sought to avoid the style of museums of her day, which were already being called “mausoleums of art”.

Gardner consciously sought to avoid the style of museums of her day

Over three decades, Gardner travelled the world and worked with important art patrons and advisors Bernard Berenson and Okakura Kakuzo to amass a remarkable collection of master and decorative arts.

Gardner herself is responsible for the careful installation of the galleries, an arrangement which according to the terms of her will never be changed.

“The surprising juxtaposition of objects, the play of light and shadow, the sensory appeal are all part of Gardner’s vision which was to create an experiential environment for visitors that in her words, ‘ignites the imagination and delights the senses’,” says Zimmerman.

The absence of labels encourages visitors to have a personal experience of the museum and to make their own connections.

The museum provides information cards in each gallery and has volunteers available to answer questions and offers daily public tours. Additional resources are available on the website and in the museum’s ‘living room’, where visitors can peruse books related to the collection and access informative videos.

Gardner was one of the foremost female patrons of the arts. She was a patron and friend of leading artists and writers of her time, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler and Henry James.

Born into a rich family and an inheritor of further wealth, Gardner put her riches to good use and invested in a huge number of works of art which remain to this day one of the most remarkable and intimate collections of master and decorative arts in the world today.

She was also a dynamic supporter of community social services, cultural enrichment and artists of her time. She encouraged music, literature, dance and creative thinking across artistic disciplines.

Because of her strong social commitment, she wanted to share her collections with others. In 1903, she completed the construction of Fenway Court in Boston to house her collection and provide a vital place for Americans to access and enjoy important works of art.

One of Zimmerman’s favourite moments is the installation of a marble fragment of a delicate foot next to a painting of a Madonna who delicately holds the foot of Jesus in her hand.

“The installations are layered – sometimes the connections are visual, sometimes thematic, sometimes contextual and sometimes personal. There are many moments of humour.”

Zimmerman has also discovered that there is often an initially dominant theme in a room – such as portraits in the Dutch room or images of the Madonna in the Raphael room – but the more one looks those themes become complicated in interesting ways by other works of art.

In 1919, Gardner suffered the first of a series of strokes and died five years later, on July 17, 1924. Her will created an endowment of $1 million and outlined stipulations for the support of the museum, including that the permanent collection not be significantly altered.

One final and intriguing factor of the museum pertains to 13 works that were stolen in 1990 by thieves who posed as police officers, walking out with immensely valuable works such as Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee. The museum continues to work closely with the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office.

“We remain optimistic that the art work will be returned,” says Zimmerman. The Gardner Museum is offering $5 million for information leading to the recovery of these works in good condition.