While Cape Cod is considered Massachusetts’s main summer destination, Boston could prove to be an equally as charming—and even more engrossing—summer retreat. As Paul Gauguin’s painting in the permanent collection at the MFA asks, Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897), Boston’s underrated art scene may help us find some answers.

At the ICA, Nari Ward’s current exhibition “Sun Splashed” melds the artist’s political past and present, and proves to be a challenging and thoughtful precursor to the museum’s upcoming Dana Schutz exhibition. Afterwards, don’t forget to head down Newbury Street, where Barbara Krakow and DTR Modern galleries present some modern greats such as Kiki Smith and John Baldessari alongside some fresher faces like Campbell La Pun and video artist Julian Opie. Contemporary art and Boston’s SoWa district go hand in hand at Lanoue and Robert Klein galleries, where their solo exhibits feature Robin Luciano Beaty and Sandi Haber Fifield. The artists’s work will let you get up close and personal with nature, without the need for sunscreen or DEET. Round out the day by strolling around the Commons and the Fens, where the Boston Athenæum and the MFA are exhibiting shows that inform the present by highlighting the past, much like Boston itself. Don’t forget to roam Isabella Stewart Gardner’s palace and take in the works of sound artists featured in “Listen Hear: The Art of Sound,” and of course, snap a picture or two—it’ll be hard to resist.

Don’t forget to park your car in Harvard yard, and check out our full list of picks below.

Exhibition: “Summer Street Art“
When:June 9–July 28, 2017
Where: DTR Modern Galleries, 167 Newbury St, Boston, MA

Nari Ward, We the People (2011). Courtesy of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston.

Exhibition: “Nari Ward: Sun Splashed”
When:April 26–September 4, 2017
Where: The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA

Dana Schutz, Big Wave (2016). Courtesy of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston.

Exhibition: “Dana Schutz”
When:July 26–November 26, 2017
Where: The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA

Julian Opie, Train 1. Courtesy of Barbara Krakow Gallery.

Exhibition: “One Wall, One Work: Four Approaches to Video Part II: Suara Welitoff and then Julian Opie”
When:June 10–July 28, 2017
Where: Barbara Krakow Gallery, 10 Newbury St, Boston, MA

Ed Ruscha, Archi-Props (1993–1997). Courtesy of Barbara Krakow Gallery.

Exhibition: “Space”
When:June 10–July 28, 2017
Where: Barbara Krakow Gallery, 10 Newbury St, Boston, MA

Robin Luciano Beaty, Pirouette. Courtesy of Lanoue Gallery.

Exhibition: “Robin Luciano Beaty: Recent Works”
When:June 15–July 23, 2017
Where: Lanoue Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave #31, Boston, MA

Sandi Haber Fifield, Untitled (2016). Courtesy of Robert Klein Gallery.

Exhibition: “Sandi Haber Fifield: Lineations”
When:July 7–August 23, 2017
Where: Robert Klein Gallery at Ars Libri, 500 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA

Elizabeth A. Goddard, A Playful Sea II (2006). Courtesy of the Boston Athenæum.

Exhibition: “New England on Paper: Contemporary Art in the Boston Athenæum’s Prints and Photographs Collection”
When:April 6–September 3, 2017
Where: 10 ½ Beacon St, Boston, MA

Henryk Ross, Man Walking in the Winter in the Ruins of the Synagogue on Wolborska Street (Destroyed by Germans 1939) (1940). Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Exhibition: “Memory Unearthed : The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross”
When:March 25–July 30, 2017
Where: 465 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA

“Listen Hear: The Art of Sound” invitation. Courtesy of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Exhibition: “Listen Hear: The Art of Sound”
When:June 11–July 31, 2017
Where: 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA