Martin Johnson Heade, Passion Flowers and Hummingbirds , about 1870–83, oil on canvas, 15 ½ x 21 5/8 in, Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Maxim Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings.
Nature Illuminated: Landscapes and Still Lifes by Heade and his Contemporaries
February 6 – June 5, 2016
Martin Johnson Heade was one of the most varied and inventive painters of the late nineteenth century and unique in devoting equal time to landscape, marine, and still life subjects. Drawn from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston’s preeminent collection of Heade’s work, this exhibition will present the artist’s great creative range. Heade created evocative marsh scenes and powerful canvases of dramatic thunderstorms at sea that established him as a landscapist. At the same time, he produced scintillating Victorian flower still lifes and exquisite studies of South American hummingbirds, explorations that would culminate in the extraordinary, wholly original combination of the jewel-like birds with lush, tropical orchids.
James Prosek: At Work
July 11–October 25, 2026
James Prosek: At Work celebrates the significant projects that define the artist’s first 30 years of artmaking. This comprehensive survey presents the remarkable breadth of his practice, from on-the-spot field studies to studio work in painting, watercolor, and sculpture.
Jill Nathanson: Chromatic Phrases
July 25, 2026–February 7, 2027
This exhibition presents recent work by Jill Nathanson, whose abstract paintings are shaped through a deliberate process that balances spontaneity with a predetermined structure. This interplay between intention and material response brings into focus the dynamic movement of layered color.