Portland Museum of Art facts for kids
McLellan House, Portland Museum of Art
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| Location | Portland, Maine |
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| Type | Art Museum |
The Portland Museum of Art, also called the PMA, is the biggest and oldest public art museum in Maine. It started as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. You can find it in the downtown area of Portland, Maine, in a place called The Arts District.
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Museum History
The Portland Museum of Art used different places to show its art until 1908. That year, a woman named Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat gave her large mansion to the museum. This mansion is now known as the McLellan House. She also gave enough money to build a new art gallery. This gallery was built to honor her late husband, Lorenzo De Medici Sweat. He was a U.S. Representative, which means he helped make laws for the country.
Building the First Galleries
A famous architect from New England, John Calvin Stevens, designed the new galleries. These were called the L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries. They opened to the public in 1911. For the next 65 years, the museum grew a lot. Its art shows became bigger, and it needed more space. The old galleries, storage areas, and support rooms were becoming too small.
A Big Gift and New Expansion
In 1976, a man from Maine named Charles Shipman Payson made an amazing promise. He said he would give the museum his collection of 17 paintings by the famous artist Winslow Homer. Mr. Payson also saw that the museum needed more space. So, he gave $8 million to help build a new addition. This new part was designed by Henry Nichols Cobb. He worked for a well-known architecture firm called I. M. Pei & Partners.
Construction on the new building began in 1981. It was named the Charles Shipman Payson Building. In just two years, this new $8.2 million building was ready for visitors. Mr. Payson's gift of the Homer paintings helped the museum grow even more. It also led to many other important art pieces being loaned or given to the museum.
More Art Collections Arrive
In 1979, the Hamilton Easter Field Art Foundation Collection was given to the museum. This added over 50 paintings, sculptures, and drawings by American modern artists. In 1991, the Joan Whitney Payson Collection came to the museum. This collection belonged to Charles Payson's wife, Joan Whitney Payson. It included 20 beautiful impressionist and post-impressionist artworks.
In 1996, Elizabeth B. Noyce, who loved art and helped many causes in Maine, gave a huge gift. She bequeathed 66 pieces of American art to the museum. This was the largest and most varied gift of American art the museum had ever received. Today, the PMA welcomes about 140,000 visitors each year. It also has around 8,500 members who support it.
Art Collection
The museum's collection has more than 22,000 artworks. These pieces date from the 1700s all the way to today. The PMA's collection includes art by famous artists like Winslow Homer, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Louise Nevelson, Andrew Wyeth, and John Greenleaf Cloudman.
European Art
The museum has the largest collection of European art in Maine. Important European art styles like impressionism and surrealism are shown. These come from the Joan Whitney Payson, Albert Otten, and Scott M. Black collections. You can see works by artists such as Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, René Magritte, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, and Auguste Rodin.
American Art
The Elizabeth B. Noyce Collection is a special gift of 66 paintings and sculptures. It includes art by George Bellows, Alfred Thompson Bricher, Abraham Walkowitz, and Jamie Wyeth. There are also masterpieces by Childe Hassam, Fitz Henry Lane, and N. C. Wyeth.
Museum Buildings
The museum has three buildings that are important for their architecture. They show how American art and culture have changed over three centuries.
Connecting the Buildings
Since it opened in 1983, the Charles Shipman Payson Building has been the main entrance for visitors. The original plan was to connect all three buildings: the Charles Shipman Payson Building, the L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries, and the McLellan House. The museum finally achieved this goal in 2002. In January 2000, the museum started a big fundraising effort. They wanted to raise $13.5 million to protect and teach about its two historic buildings.
The project to connect the three buildings began in the fall of 2000. It was finished in October 2002. Now, the McLellan House and L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries focus on American art from the 1800s. The Payson Building shows European and American art from the 1900s and 2000s.
This project made the McLellan House look like its original beautiful style. It also brought back the grand look of the L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries. This created special spaces for the museum's great collection of 19th-century American art. With more space, the museum can show more of its permanent collection. This collection has grown in quality and importance over the years. In 2014, Scott Simons Architects helped plan for the museum's future growth. The museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day except Monday and Tuesday.
Future Plans
In 2022, the museum shared plans for a new expansion. This new part will be about 60,000 square feet (5,574 square meters). Four teams of international architects competed to design it. The winning design was created by LEVER.
