I’d all but given up on getting into Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Every time I tried to score tickets it was the same story—sold out. On a lark I logged on one last time for a shot at the exhibit, which runs through March 28. Success! All 35 of the MFA’s gorgeous Claude Monet oil paintings were mine for the viewing. I headed into the big city. Please note: advance timed-entry tickets are required for all visitors, including members and children. No ticket sales on site at the Museum.

It’s been over 20 years since the museum has gathered together all of its canvases by the French Impressionist, but they are reunited, along with works by Hiroshige, Jean-François Millet, and Eugène Boudinand, and it feels so good. In all, over 50 works are on view, hung on jewel-colored walls across several galleries. The show is a visual delight for those who love pretty pictures, and lots of them, all at once. Count me in. In this exhibit, organized by Katie Hanson, associate curator of European paintings, patrons are given a rare opportunity to stroll through gallery after gallery of beautiful colors, stirring landscapes, tranquil domestic scenes, and light, captured seemingly at will by the artists and transferred from paintbrush to canvas.

Here are some pics: