A gateway to Boston College, the McMullen Museum of Art welcomes you to its home in the recently-expanded and renovated Renaissance Revival palazzo at 2101 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

From its inception in 1990, the McMullen has departed from practices of other university museums by linking its mission to faculty research across disciplines and to sharing with a wide audience what is normally the private enterprise of new faculty scholarship. The McMullen has mounted more than seventy-five large-scale loan exhibitions and produced nearly as many scholarly catalogues. Subjects explored range from contemporary installations in a variety of media by ethnically and racially diverse artists from around the globe, classical and Asian antiquities, Italian baroque paintings, and medieval and Islamic artifacts, to nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings and works on paper from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The McMullen’s permanent collection which features Coptic textiles, Haitian paintings, European and American paintings (including significant holdings by John La Farge), tapestries, prints, and photographs, continues to grow. You can search much of the permanent collection on our database and catch up on exhibitions you might have missed by viewing virtual walkthroughs on this website.

As a teaching museum in a research university, the McMullen remains dedicated to the highest standards of scholarship and installation and to contributing to the evolution of ideas informed by works of art and material culture. We invite our students, faculty, and staff and those at other institutions, as well as our regional, national, and international audiences, to participate in the ongoing dialogue.  As one of many agents for progress on social justice at our university, the McMullen stands with Boston College’s president and senior administrators and its Forum on Racial Justice in America in committing to diversity and inclusion in its programming. 

We are pleased to share with you our exhibitions, research, educational programs, and events and hope you will make the museum your own—virtually and in person. Inclusive of all, the McMullen is open to the public free of charge seven days a week. Please visit often, as we change our exhibitions!

Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director and Professor of Art History

Mission: The McMullen Museum aims to cultivate learning, celebrate artistic excellence, explore the visual traditions of diverse cultures, and inspire transdisciplinary faculty and student research based on the visual arts. The McMullen offers exhibition-related programs and resources for diverse audiences of all ages on campus, in the Greater Boston area, and beyond.

History: With roots in an older departmental gallery, the Boston College Museum of Art opened in 1993 in Devlin Hall under the direction of Professor of Art History, Nancy Netzer. The Museum was renamed the McMullen Museum of Art in 1996 in recognition of a generous gift from John and Jacqueline McMullen.

The McMullen diverged from other university art museums in being faculty-driven with the aim of inviting transdisciplinary collaboration and research from faculty across the University working in collaboration with other scholars from around the world. The Museum has since produced more than sixty interdisciplinary exhibitions with nearly as many peer-reviewed catalogues, emphasizing that interrogation of artifacts as evidentiary documents is relevant to all disciplines of study.

About the McMullen family: The McMullen Museum of Art is named in recognition of its longtime patrons John and Jacqueline McMullen and the McMullen Family Foundation, in honor of John’s parents, Isabella and Charles. The late John McMullen (1918–2005) held a PhD in mechanical engineering and served on the Boston College Board of Trustees from 1978 to 1986. He was a naval architect, businessman, marine engineer, and former owner of the New Jersey Devils and the Houston Astros. John McMullen shared his deep interest in art and collecting with his wife, Jacqueline. She and their children and grandchildren are cherished friends and advisors to the McMullen Museum and generously supported the renovation of its new home on Commonwealth Avenue.

The New McMullen: In 2005, the McMullen Family Foundation provided a lead gift to renovate and build an addition to the Neo-Renaissance palazzo at 2101 Commonwealth Avenue. Designed in 1927 by architects Maginnis and Walsh, the building originally served as the home of Boston’s cardinal archbishops. The renovation was completed in spring 2016 and opened to the public on September 12, 2016.

The following endowments support the McMullen’s programs:

The Linda ’64 and Adam Crescenzi Fund
The Alison S. and William M. Vareika ’74, P’09, ’15, LP’16 Fund
The Janet M. and C. Michael Daley ’58 Fund
The Gerard and Jane Gaughan Fund for Exhibitions
The Hecksher Family Fund
The Hightower Family Fund
The John F. McCarthy and Gail M. Bayer Fund
The Marguerite “Peggy” Simons Publications Fund
The Christopher J. Toomey ’78 Fund

McMullen Museum Staff:

Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director, Nancy Netzer

Manager of Education, Outreach & Digital Resources, Rachel Chamberlain (education inquiries)
617.552.1427

Assistant Director, Exhibition Design, Collections Management & Curatorial Affairs, Diana Larsen
617.552.8791

Assistant Director, Multimedia & Design Services, John McCoy 
617.552.6874

Assistant Director, Publications, Exhibition Organization & Membership, Kate Shugert (press inquiries)
617.552.4676

Email the McMullen Museum:

Addresses:

Museum/Offices: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College
2101 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02135

Postal address: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

General inquiries:
artmuseum@bc.edu
617.552.8587