Although it is stronger in big ideas than in profound visual experiences, "Museum as Muse" is an unusually coherent, well-orchestrated theme show that transcends typical theme-show fare (as in the cow, nude or machine in art).

It's unusually coherent for a soundtrack album.

According to the Boston Landmarks Commission, these buildings represent "an unusually coherent and well-preserved collection of late 19th and early 20th century lofts that reflect a critical period of social, economic, and physical development in the City and the region.

Ensemble value: the station building, signal box and water tower form an unusually coherent and intact group.

"You sound unusually coherent."

But besides being unusually coherent, this summer's effort, "Once Removed," often seems to deliberately confront sculpture's storage problem and frequent homelessness, not to mention society's issues with maintenance and obsolescence.

But the stitched-together score on tape is unusually coherent and has a varied dramatic pace.

The same thing happens in "Kindergarten Cop," a remarkably benign film for its star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and an unusually coherent one for Ivan Reitman, its director.

There was always time to go to the ship, and Tiny Jim was unusually coherent.

Although it is stronger in fascinating ideas than in profound visual experiences, this remarkable, unusually coherent theme show - 182 works by 62 artists - examines the many ways that artists have seen the museum as the subject, no just the destination, of their art.