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DECK THE WALLS WITH ART

The Portland Museum of Art, Maine’s oldest art institution, houses a collection of more than 18,000 pieces of American, European, and contemporary art, as well as many works by Maine artists. The collection includes paintings, pottery, porcelain, furniture, and sculpture.

The PMA also owns and operates the studio of marine and coastal painter Winslow Homer on the rocky coast at Prouts Neck. Art historians generally agree that Homer didn’t reach his true artistic maturity until he came to Maine. His studio was declared a National Landmark in 1966. The PMA bought and restored it in 2006 and now opens the studio for guided tours.

Located in the heart of the arts district downtown, the main PMA building—the modern, award-winning Charles Shipman Payson Building, was opened in 1983. Besides the Homer studio and the Payson building, the PMA owns and displays art in an 1801 Federal three-story mansion known as the McLellan House and in the 1911 Beaux Arts-style L.D.M. Sweat Memorial Galleries.

HELPFUL SITES

• portlandmuseum.org

• creativeportland.com/arts/first-friday-art-walk/

• maineartmuseums.org