Portland, ME -- For more than 70 years, Alex Katz has redefined contemporary painting, honing his distinctive vision and disciplined approach. This creative legacy extends to the works collected by the Alex Katz Foundation. The Foundation’s support in the form of gifts of art works has shaped a transformative partnership with the Portland Museum of Art (PMA).

Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection at the Portland Museum of Art celebrates over a decade of gifts to the museum, reflecting Katz’s deep personal and professional ties to Maine. “Alex’s belief that Maine deserves great art has inspired his investment in the artistic landscape of this great state,” says Mark H. C. Bessire, Judy and Leonard Lauder Executive Director at the PMA.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Katz became a painter during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism, forging his unique style of figurative and landscape painting. Having bought a small farmhouse in Lincolnville, Maine, in 1954, Katz was joined by a coterie of artists, later dubbed the Slab City Road group, alongside Lois Dodd, Rudy Burckhardt, Yvonne Jacquette, Rackstraw Downes, Bernard Langlais, Neil Welliver and others who found community together in Midcoast Maine. The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture first introduced Katz to the state. He spent two summers there, later writing, “It was at Skowhegan that I first got involved with the Maine light, which is richer and darker than the light in Impressionist paintings. Being able to see the Maine light helped me separate myself from European painting and find my own eyes. The opportunity to paint anywhere and not be bothered by anyone gave me freedom and confidence.”

Katz’s artistic growth in Maine and elsewhere led to his global profile in the contemporary art world and his ability to give back to it, supporting new voices in the historical narrative and new colleagues in the field of practice. As President and CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art Sharon Corwin writes in the exhibition publication, “What matters to Katz is how his artistic and financial success might enable him to make a profound difference in the world of art... What we see on the walls of these museums is richer, more complex, and more diverse as a result of Katz’s singular philanthropic vision.”

In 2011, the Alex Katz Foundation began gifting works by modern and contemporary artists to the PMA to form a collection that now numbers over 150 works. The fruits of this burgeoning relationship include artists with strong ties to the state of Maine (Lois Dodd, Rackstraw Downes, Fairfield Porter), leading figures in American modernism (Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper), a strong core of work by contemporary artists (Kamrooz Aram, Chase Hall), and major figures in the global contemporary art sphere (Philip Guston, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke). Painting Energy and its accompanying publication explore Katz’s specific vision of the trajectory of modern and contemporary painting, focusing in particular on the pivotal decade of the 1980s. 

With these important works, the PMA has been able to expand the narrative of modern and contemporary art into both local and global contemporary art circles. Paintings, drawings, prints, video, photography, and sculpture are presented in dialogue with the major artistic movements of our time, including abstraction, expressionism, and figuration, and offer a glimpse into an extraordinary artist’s visual encyclopedia. The lavishly illustrated 160-page exhibition catalogue will include an extended essay introducing the artistic vision for the collection and short reflections on selected works by artists, curators, and scholars, as well as an illustrated checklist of all the PMA gifts from the Alex Katz Foundation.

Dates: May 23 - September 14, 2025

Hours:

Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Fridays from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. (Free Admission from 4–8 p.m.)

Location: Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square, Portland, ME 04101

Admission:

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Free | Visitors 21 & under*
$20 | Adults  
$18 | Seniors & Students 22+

Admission is FREE to all every Friday from 4-8 p.m.**

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