BOSTON-
The iconic artwork "Whistler's Mother" will be on display beginning Sunday at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, on loan from a Paris museum.
The "Americans in Paris 1860-1900," exhibit that includes the painting, runs through Sept. 24.
The painting belongs to the Musee d'Orsay. Curators from Boston went overseas to persuade the Musee d'Orsay to lend the work.
"Whistler's Mother," by James McNeill Whistler, was painted in London in 1871, and has only visited the United States a few times in the past 50 or so years. It was on view in 2004 at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, but hasn't been shown locally for 23 years. It was acquired by the French government in 1891.
"It is rarely lent because it is such an important piece," said Kelly Gifford, a spokeswoman for the MFA.
It took two trips to Paris by exhibit curators to persuade the director of the Musee d'Orsay to loan "Whistler's Mother."
"It is such an icon," MFA Director Malcolm Rogers, told The Boston Globe. "It would have been heartbreaking if we couldn't have gotten it."
The painting titled, "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother, 1871," was last seen at the MFA in 1983.
Officials wouldn't discuss how it was transported from Europe, or reveal anything about the way the painting, which art appraisers estimate is worth at least $30 million, has been insured for this trip.
