Portland Museum of Art

October 26th around 1pm

Initial Notes: I've been to the Portland Museum of Art more times than I can count. Field trips, for fun, for Art History courses, and all kinds of other reasons. For being an art museum in Maine its collection of artwork and other things is quite extensive. They always have incredibly interesting exhibits in the entry area of the museum which is always fun to look at. Also, being in Maine, their collection of Maine artists and art is incredibly large.

Winslow Homer: Incoming Tide, Scarborough, Maine

Reaction: The Portland Museum of Art is home to many of Maine’s finest paintings and pieces of artwork and to a lot of Maine artist’s works. It is located in the downtown arts district in Portland, Maine and was founded in 1882. It boasts being Maine’s oldest and largest public art institution. The collection of European art is the largest north of Boston, Massachusetts. The museum holds more than 17,000 pieces of art and the art dates from the 18^th century to present day. The exhibits that change in the entry area change about ten times a year. There are around 150,000 people who visit the museum per year – 12,000 of which are schoolchildren on field trips and other educational reasons.

Obviously, being an art museum in Maine there is an extensive collection of Maine artist’s work – especially Winslow Homer. What elementary age child has not seen one of Winslow Homer’s pieces of art while learning about basic Maine history? Other Maine artists included at the Museum are: Marsden Hartley, Rockwell Kent, John Marin, Louise Nevelson, and Andrew Wyeth.What is so great about the Museum of Art is how much they have to offer. Not only does it offer the visitors a look at Maine art and Maine artists, but there is the largest collection of European art there in Maine. It shows major artists from the Impressionism movement all the way through to the Surrealism movement with artists like: Pablo Picasso, Joan Whitney Payson, Rene Magritte, Claude Monet, and Auguste Rodin. The Museum is a place of culture and knowledge not only of our state’s contribution to art, but the world’s. There is also an extensive section on American art in general which includes artists: George Bellows, Alfred Thompson Bricher, and Jamie Wyeth. On top of all these pieces of artwork the museum also offers educational programs, family festivals, lectures, art classes, musical concerts, book groups, art camps, gallery talks, and many more things!

Having a place like this in Maine is so important. Not only does it educate our children and just citizens in general about Maine history through art, it also teaches everyone about American art in general and European and many other genres of art. It is such a useful tool for people to use and is so generous to the public in the things it offers them. Like any museum, it is a collection of historical objects that people can come and appreciate. Maine being Maine, obviously, takes pride in what it has offered to the world of art by having such a vast collection of Maine artists. Maine played a huge role in art because of its beautiful, untouched lands. Countless painters and artists traveled to Maine to capture its beauty that had not been ruined yet by cities and suburbia.