The Museum of Fine Arts Boston opened the brand-new “Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring A Classic.” Members got a sneak preview from Sept. 16, 2018 to Sept. 21, 2018. When open to the public, the exhibit will run from Sept. 22, 2018 to Jan. 6, 2019. Member or non-member, before going in, you need to order tickets for a time slot. The University of Massachusetts Boston students get into the MFA for free when they show their student I.D.
After being brutally awakened at the early hour of 10 a.m., I jumped in the car with my mother and grandmother to drive into Boston to go to the MFA to get in the gallery for our 11-11:30 a.m. session. The museum won’t kick anyone out if they stay longer than 30 minutes but it’s easier for them to cycle people in and out if the visitors follow what their ticket says.
I checked my bag at the complementary bag-and-coat check and then I followed my family to where the line was to get in. People of all ages–men, women, children, and babies–were clamoring to get in! Even with the line we were able to get in at 11:02 a.m. sharp.
The first art shown when walking in was the history of Pooh Bear and all the different editions of the books. First created in 1923 by Alan Alexander (A.A.) Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh was based off the teddy-bear Milne got his son, Christopher Robin, for his first birthday. Although Christopher Robin was a major part of the creation of all the characters, a lot of inspiration came from Milne’s own childhood.
In the gallery, there were multiple pictures of the original Christopher Robin sitting with the actual Pooh and the original pencil sketches by Ernest Howard (E.H.) Shepard. Every part of the Winnie-the-Pooh universe is based on all real places and “people.” But don’t worry, if you’re not caught up on Winnie-the-Pooh lore, the captions all explain the stories and thought-processes behind each of them. The exhibit shows replicas of Piglet, Tigger, Kanga and Roo, and Eeyore.
Very kid-friendly, the walls are all white with their own Pooh quotes and the identical pictures from the books in some in color, others in black. There are a number of black sketches making the gallery look like Hundred Acre Wood. Not only are there simple decorations, one room has a little bed, the next has a window seat with an old-timey phone on each side with Milne’s voice reading a story, another with a slide and staircase, there’s Eeyore’s stick house on a patch of fake grass, and another has a colorful little door connecting two of the spaces in the exhibition. The most impressive, though, is the bridge set up in the largest room. It’s a white bridge, made to look like a sketch, over a lit-up blue “stream,” where you can see a continuous game of “Poohsticks.”
This exhibit is huge. Just when you think it has ended, you wind up in another room. But, before the door that leads out to the Asian art exhibit, the walls are lined with the original colored paintings. To leave, take a left where you can head straight into the gift shop.