Thanks to the Museum of Fine Arts’s ongoing exhibit Walk This Way, shoe-loving Bostonians have found a new excuse for their obsession: They’re not just conspicuous consumers, they’re art collectors.

The exhibit—which shows shoes as pieces of art as well as symbols of wealth and power throughout the ages—is cleverly spread throughout the MFA’s galleries, organized, according to the program, as a “treasure hunt” for visitors. (Bostonist’s companion had more fun reading the map than looking at the shoes.) The shoes are paired with an object or work of art that places the footwear in a historical and cultural context—a ballet slipper is placed next to a Degas sculpture of a ballerina, for example, and a pair of 17th-century men’s boots rest below a painting of a lute player wearing the same style of shoes.

Some of the connections are tenuous, like the pairing of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s cleats with an ancient Greek vase showing runners—the explanation being that Greek athletes didn’t wear shoes but today’s modern athletes possess extremely specialized footwear. Other pairings illustrate witty and unexpected connections. Bostonist was fascinated to see how the pattern on an 18th –century silk textile clearly inspired a pair of Vivienne Westwood platform heels. Bostonist was also fascinated by the idea that anyone might ever have actually walked in the six-inch platforms.

The sheer variety of footwear on display was mesmerizing and revealed that cultures all over the world valued style over function in their footwear long before Carrie Bradshaw turned Manolos into fetish objects. A pair of Syrian bath shoes made from wood inlaid with mother of pearl look more like home decorations found at Pier One than footwear, while a gorgeous pair of leather-worked 19th century Tatar boots wouldn’t look out of place on sale today at Zappos.

The exhibit is free with admission to the MFA ($17 for adults, $15 for students and seniors) and is on display until March 23, 2008.

Post contributed by Lyette Mercier. Image of Pucci pumps from Zappos.