The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), celebrates the return of spring with Art in Bloom, Saturday, April 27 to Monday, April 29. For more than 40 years, the festival has paired art from across the MFA’s collection with floral interpretations created by 50 New England-area garden clubs including the Beacon Hill Garden Club.
Each garden club team has been assigned one art object which they will interpret with a floral arrangement to be displayed next to the art. Different arrangements will be on display throughout the Museum by 50 garden clubs from across New England. Arrangers were introduced to their art objects, which could be a painting, sculpture, piece of furniture or musical instrument, in February, and have carefully planned their floral interpretation, often based on color, shape and style.
Throughout the weekend, visitors can share their best floral photos on social media with #mfaInBloom. Art in Bloom launches with an Evening Preview of freshly installed arrangements on Friday, April 26 from 3–10 p.m. Daily events include tours of arrangements throughout the galleries; floral-arranging demonstrations for the home; snacks and lunch in the Art in Bloom Café among European masterpieces; and outdoor walking tours of the MFA’s campus and beyond. A Community Day with children’s activities takes place on Sunday, April 28. Special Guided Group Tours are available beginning Friday evening, and freeIkebana (Japanese floral arranging) demonstrations occur on Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. This year’s featured speaker is Remco Van Vliet, celebrated Dutch florist and creative director of Van Vliet & Trap Event Design NYC. Van Vliet will host two master classes and one lecture demonstration in floral arranging during Art in Bloom.Art in Bloom is sponsored by Wilmington Trust. Supporting Sponsors are Fitch Law Partners and Fox Hill Village. Art in Bloom Community Day is sponsored by Arbella Insurance Foundation.
Art in Bloom is included within Museum admission—$25 for adults and $23 for seniors and students age 18 and older. Admission is free for children 17 and under. Art in Bloom is presented by the MFA Associates, a group of dedicated volunteers who lead gallery tours and create the Museum’s flower arrangements throughout the year. In addition to experiencing the Art in Bloom arrangements on view througout the galleries, MFA visitors can also explore the Museum’s current exhibitions, including Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico; Made Visible: Contemporary South African Fashion and Identity; Postwar Visions: European Photography, 1945–60; Radical Geometries: Bauhaus Prints, 1919–33; Frida Kahlo and Arte Popular; Gender Bending Fashion; Bouchra Khalili: Poets and Witnesses; Toulouse-Lautrec and the Stars of Paris; and Georgie Friedman: Fragments of Antarctica.