Quirky art museum · 1994 · Boston, Massachusetts, USA

MOBA — Museum Of Bad Art

The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a privately owned institution in Boston, Massachusetts whose stated mission is “to celebrate the labor of artists whose work would be displayed and appreciated in no other forum.” Founded in 1994, MOBA holds a permanent collection of more than 700 works of art selected not for mediocrity alone but for their special qualities of ambition, failure, and irresistible peculiarity — pieces too sincerely bad to be ignored.

At a glance

Type: Private novelty and outsider art museum
Period: Founded 1994; collection spans 20th–21st centuries
Style: Curated collection of earnestly failed figurative and narrative painting
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Coordinates: 42.3967° N, 71.1253° W

Overview

MOBA occupies a unique position in the world’s museum landscape as the only institution dedicated specifically to the serious study and celebration of bad art. Its rotating displays of 25 to 35 works from the permanent collection are chosen through a rigorous selection process — paradoxically more demanding than many conventional museums, since pieces must clear the bar of being spectacularly, memorably, irredeemably bad. The museum has attracted international media attention and built a devoted global following.

History

MOBA was established in 1994 in Dedham, Massachusetts, after co-founder Scott Wilson rescued a portrait from a rubbish pile only to find it impossible to throw away due to its compelling terribleness. The collection grew by donation and thrift-store finds, quickly becoming too large for its original home. The museum relocated to Boston, where it has operated from a venue in the city — check the official website for the current exhibition location, as MOBA has occupied different spaces over the years.

What you see

The galleries display oil paintings, watercolours, and mixed-media works arranged with straight-faced curatorial seriousness, each piece accompanied by a deadpan interpretive label that takes the work’s intentions at face value. Highlights from the permanent collection include the celebrated “Sunday on the Pot with George,” a failed homage to Seurat, alongside portraits, landscapes, and figure studies of extraordinary ineptitude. The juxtaposition of earnest curation and visibly failed art produces an experience of genuine critical reflection on what quality and intention mean in visual art.

Cultural significance

By treating bad art with the same institutional seriousness as masterpieces, MOBA invites visitors to reconsider the criteria by which art is valued, dismissed, or ignored. The museum has generated substantial academic and popular discussion about aesthetic failure, folk art, naïve art, and the boundary between kitsch and genuine creative expression, earning it a lasting place in conversations about museum culture and cultural democratisation.

Practical information

Address: Boston, Massachusetts, USA — check official website for current exhibition location
Hours: Check official website for current opening times
Admission: Admission is typically included with other venue access; check official website for details

Getting there

Boston is served by Logan International Airport and by Amtrak via South Station. The MBTA subway (the T) connects the city centre to most Boston neighbourhoods. Check the museum’s official website for the current venue address and nearest T stop, as the location has changed over the years.

Sources & resources

Find it on the map

Google Maps See the location on a full map → Street View Walk around the place virtually → OpenStreetMap Free community cartography →

The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a privately owned museum whose stated purpose is &quot;to celebrate the work of artists whose work would be exhibited and appreciated in no other forum&quot;.



It has two branches, one in Dedham, Massachusetts, and the other in nearby Somerville. Its permanent collection includes 500 pieces of &quot;art too bad to ignore&quot;, 25 to 35 of which are on public display at any one time.



MOBA was founded in 1994 after antiquarian Scott Wilson showed a painting he had recovered from the trash to some friends, who suggested starting a collection. Within a year, the receptions held at Wilson&#39;s friends&#39; homes were so busy that the collection required its own viewing space. The museum has moved to the basement of a theater in Dedham.



Explaining the reasoning behind the museum&#39;s establishment, co-founder Jerry Reilly said in 1995: &quot;While every city in the world has at least one museum dedicated to the best of art, MOBA is the only museum dedicated to collecting and exposure of the worst &quot;. To be included in the MOBA collection, the works must be original and have serious intentions, but they must also have significant flaws without being boring; curators are not interested in showing deliberate kitsch.



The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a private museum that aims to &quot;celebrate the efforts of artists whose work cannot be appreciated in any other gallery&quot;. It has long had at least two parallel offices in Massachusetts: one in Somerville and the other in Brookline, now closed. Its permanent collection includes 500 &quot;works of art too ugly to ignore&quot;.



In addition to being mentioned in international newspapers and magazines, MOBA has inspired numerous other collectors to collect &quot;visual atrocities&quot;. Deborah Solomon of the New York Times pointed out that various museums around the world began to follow in the footsteps of the MOBA by exhibiting &quot;the best of the worst in art&quot;. The museum was accused by some of being anti-artistic, but its founders denied this by stating that it was a tribute to the sincerity of the artists who persevered with their activity, despite something going very wrong during the process.



Co-founder Marie Jackson stated, &quot;We are here to celebrate, gloriously, an artist&#39;s right to fail.&quot; To belong to the MOBA collection, works must be original, have serious purpose, and significant flaws that make them fun; the curators of the museum are in fact not interested in deliberately bad taste creations.

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MOBA Museum Of Bad Art