One of the most dynamic art exhibits of the year, “Marsden Hartley’s Maine,” has just opened at The Met Breuer, the contemporary branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and runs through June 18.

“Marsden Hartley’s Maine,” sponsored in part by the Maine Office of Tourism, showcases the American artist’s lifelong artistic engagement with his home state of Maine. It features 90 paintings and drawings that illuminate his extraordinarily expressive range, from Post-Impressionist interpretations of seasonal change in inland Maine in the early 1900s to folk-inspired depictions, beginning in the late 1930s, of the state’s hearty inhabitants, majestic coastline, and great geological icon, Mount Katahdin.

In his review of the show in The New York Times, Holland Cotter said that “Marsden Hartley’s Maine makes important points of its own. At a time of vaunted global culture, it suggests the creative potential of rootedness. And it demonstrates that, at the moment, the Met Breuer is home to some of the best modern and contemporary shows in town.”

This landmark show will undoubtedly inspire visitors to experience Maine and retrace Hartley’s footsteps for themselves, from the Western mountains to the Downeast sea coast and as far north as Aroostook County. The VisitMaine.com website will feature a state map tracing the locations that inspired Hartley, as well as information on museums and libraries that feature more of Hartley’s original work. Marsden Hartley’s Maine is co-organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Colby College Museum of Art, where the show will run from July 8 through November 12. Go to Visit Maine for details.

Marsden Hartley Maine
“Canuck Yankee Lumberjack at Old Orchard Beach, Maine” (1940) Credit Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution.
Marsden Harley's Maine
“Mt. Katahdin (Maine), Autumn #2” 1939–40. Credit Metropolitan Museum of Art, Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection, Bequest of Edith Abrahamson Lowenthal, 1991.
Marsden Hartley's Maine
“Lobster Fishermen” 1940-41 Credit Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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