17 Best Museums in Boston

"Boston’s only free contemporary art museum, MAAM reopened in an overhauled two-story space in February 2020, after a $12.5 million redo. A bit like a much smaller version of the InstItute of Contemporary Art across town, it shows temporary exhibitions of of-the-moment pieces, both large and small and in a variety of media. Two white-walled gallery spaces exhibit a few shows a year, with one up in each at a time. (The second-floor’s soaring, naturally lit space especially wows when curators devote it entirely to a site-specific installation by a single artist.) A small lobby, front plaza, and art-studio-style maker space provide more room for creativity. Part of the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (aka MassArt)—the first publicly funded art school in the country—the institution takes seriously its role as a teaching museum and is staffed largely by paid students." - Elizabeth Wellington, Andrew Sessa