The museum was built in 1898–1901 by
Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924), an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts in the style of a 15th-century Venetian palace. It opened to the public in 1903. Gardner began collecting seriously after she received a large inheritance from her father in 1891. Her purchase of
Johannes Vermeer's
The Concert () at auction in Paris in 1892 was her first major acquisition. In 1894,
Bernard Berenson offered his services in helping her acquire a
Botticelli. With his help, Gardner became the first American to own a painting by the
Renaissance master. Berenson helped acquire nearly 70 works of art for her collection. '' (1562) by
Titian is one of the most famous works in the museum After her husband John L. Gardner's death in 1898, Isabella Gardner realized their shared dream of building a suitable space to exhibit their treasures. She purchased land in the marshy
Fenway area of Boston, and hired architect
Willard T. Sears to build Fenway Court, modeled on the
Renaissance palaces of
Venice. Gardner was deeply involved in every aspect of the design, leading Sears to quip that he was merely the structural engineer making Gardner's design possible. After the construction of the building was complete, Gardner spent a year installing her collection in a way that evokes intimate responses to the art, mixing paintings, furniture, textiles and objects from different cultures and periods among well-known European paintings and sculpture. The museum opened on January 1, 1903, with a grand celebration featuring a performance by members of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra and a menu that included champagne and doughnuts. In 1909, the
Museum of Fine Arts moved to its new home close by. During Gardner's lifetime, she welcomed artists, performers, and scholars to Fenway Court to draw inspiration from the rich collection and dazzling Venetian setting, including
John Singer Sargent,
Charles Martin Loeffler, and
Ruth St. Denis, among others. Gardner also occasionally hosted artists' exhibitions within Fenway Court, including one of
Anna Coleman Ladd. Today, the museum's contemporary
artist-in-residence program, courtyard garden displays, concerts, and innovative education programs continue Isabella Gardner's legacy. When Gardner died in 1924, her will created an endowment of $1 million and outlined stipulations for the support of the museum, including the charge that her collection be permanently exhibited "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever" according to her aesthetic vision and intent. Gardner appointed her secretary and the former librarian of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Morris Carter (1877–1965) as the museum's first director. Carter catalogued the entire collection and wrote Gardner's definitive biography,
Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court.
George L. Stout (1897–1978) was the second director. The father of modern conservation, Stout ensured the long-term preservation of the collection and historic structure.
Rollin Van Nostrand Hadley (1927–1992) became the third director in 1970. Hadley increased visiting hours, instituted the Membership Program and added a cafe. Hadley also wrote several catalogs for the museum, produced
Fenway Court, an annual scholarly publication, and wrote the 1987 book
The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Northeastern University Press).
Anne Hawley was director from 1989 until 2015.
Peggy Fogelman, the Norma Jean Calderwood Director, began her tenure as director of the museum in 2016.
Art theft of 1990 Early in the morning of March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as police officers robbed the museum of thirteen works worth some $500 millionthe greatest known property theft in history. Among the works was
The Concert (c. 1664), one of only 34 known by
Johannes Vermeer and thought to be the most valuable unrecovered painting at over $200 million. Also missing is
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633),
Rembrandt's only known seascape. Some of the canvases were crudely cut out of their
stretchers. The works have not been recovered. The museum initially offered a
reward of $5 million for information leading to recovery of the art, doubled in May 2017 to $10 million. Empty frames hang in the Dutch Room gallery as placeholders for the missing works. The selection of stolen works puzzled experts, as more valuable artworks were present in the museum. According to the FBI, the stolen artwork was moved through the region and offered for sale in
Philadelphia during the early 2000s. They believe the thieves were members of a
criminal organization based in the
mid-Atlantic and
New England. The statute of limitations on the theft has expired but criminal charges could be laid if an individual is found to be in possession of stolen property. In April 2021,
Netflix began streaming a four-part documentary about the theft:
This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist. Extension and preservation project In 2002, after a two-year master planning process, the museum's board of trustees determined that a new wing was necessary to preserve the historic building and to provide improved spaces for programs that continue Isabella Gardner's legacy. In 2004,
Pritzker Prize–winning architect
Renzo Piano and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Genoa, Italy) were selected to design the new wing. In 2009, the final approval for the expansion project was given, but there was much debate about the carriage house. The carriage house, originally built in 1907, was argued to be important for the intent of the first owners, yet the building was torn down in hopes of having the museum preserve the main building. In 2016, the new wing was praised for its appearance by the
Boston Society of Architects and awarded a medal for its beauty. The design for the new wing is conceived as a respectful complement to the historic Museum building in scale, form, and materials. The project adds consisting of two new buildings. The first building attaches to the original museum and takes on the appearance of four stories in glass and copper. The second building is smaller and is used for greenhouses and living quarters. The new expansion includes spaces for visitor services, concerts, special exhibitions, and education and landscape programs, furthering Isabella Gardner's legacy in art, music, and horticulture while reducing 21st-century strain on the collection and galleries. The project was completed in 2012, and cost $118 million. ==Design==