Plan your visit to CLAY, offering a seasonal menu of fresh local fare in one of the city's most beautiful spaces. Try our newly-launched spring menu today!
Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most influential artists and human rights activists, and one of China’s most formidable critics. Ai Weiwei: Unbroken features a selection of the artist's most iconic ceramics, and marks the international debut of new work. See it before it closes on June 9!
SMASH: Nourish is a night of bold artwork, delicious cuisine, refreshing drinks, and invigorating experiences. The Gardiner Museum Young Patron Circle's annual art party sold out last year, so get your tickets early!
The Gardiner Museum is among the few museums in the world focused on ceramics, and is one of the most important specialty museums internationally. It houses approximately 4,000 objects, including European porcelain, ceramics from the Ancient Americas, Chinese porcelain, Japanese porcelain, and contemporary ceramics. Search the collection online!
Everyone can love clay! Become a Friend at one of the world’s great specialty museums and enjoy the benefits, including unlimited admission, invitations to exhibition previews and special events, discounts on lectures and clay classes, and more.
The Tsars’ Cabinet presents more than 200 examples of decorative arts, including objects with Fabergé mounts, gilded dinner services, imperial porcelain eggs, and historic court photographs that document the extravagance and sumptuousness of life in palaces and yachts during the Romanov era.
The exhibition follows the history of the tsars and their family, including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. The Tsars’ Cabinet also features intimate Romanov family photographs from the Toronto-based Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection and personal artifacts once owned by Grand Duchess Olga, the younger sister of Tsar Nicholas II, who spent her final years living in Toronto.
Most of the objects in the exhibition were specifically designed for and used by the tsars and members of the Russian imperial family. The pieces include magnificent examples of works from the Imperial Porcelain Factory, the Imperial Glassworks, and the private firms of Fabergé and Ovichinnikov. Many of the objects are extremely rare and offer one of the best opportunities to see outstanding imperial Russian art outside of Russia.
The Tsars’ Cabinet was developed from the exceptional private collection of Kathleen Durdin, and organized by the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in collaboration with International Arts + Artists, Washington D.C.
The Gardiner Museum is the first stop of an international tour.
Exhibition Programs & Events
Friday December 2, 5:30 – 8:30 pm Friday After Five: Holiday Wine + Cheese Enjoy wine tasting, live music, hors d’oeuvres by Chef Jamie Kennedy, holiday decorating tips by Michelle Mawby (interior designer and resident design expert on The Marilyn Dennis Show) and Museum admission to 12 Trees of Christmas and The Tsars’ Cabinet for only $40.
Tuesday December 6, 12 – 1:30 pm Lecture: Russian Christmas Traditions Speaker: Dr. Karen Kettering, Sotheby’s New York