For the Portland Museum of Art, a new Winslow Homer exhibition is ‘a big deal’ — News Center Maine

It shines a light on some little-known work by one of America’s great artists.

Author: Rob Caldwell
Published: 5:41 PM EDT August 5, 2026

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PORTLAND, Maine — Of all the artists whose work is part of the collection of the Portland Museum of Art, no one stands higher than Winslow Homer.

“He is at the core of who and what we are,” Portland Museum of Art Executive Director Mark Bessire said. “There’s no doubt.”

The connections between the artist and the museum run deep.

In 1976, philanthropist and New York Mets owner Charles Shipman Payson gave the museum a transformative gift of 17 original Homer paintings. He soon reached into his pocket again and donated $8 million for a new building—the one that now stands downtown in Congress Square—to display those works.

For the paintings, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting home than the museum.

From 1884 until his death in 1910, Homer lived and worked in a studio just a few miles away on Prouts Neck in Scarborough, looking out on the open ocean with its ever-changing drama of wind, waves, and weather. Those scenes inspired some of his greatest paintings.

“His obsession with water and nature takes over,” Bessire said of Homer’s years on Prouts Neck. “That’s really what Maine can do to an artist. [They] come here, and then they really become a different artist.”

The museum is now presenting a major exhibition of Homer’s art that is often overlooked: his etchings.

Paired in several cases with the paintings that preceded them, the etchings offer a fresh look at Homer’s talent and interests. They also reinforce his bond with Maine.

As Homer’s works become increasingly valuable, the museums that own them become more reluctant to lend them out. That means this exhibition may be a once in a lifetime event.

“It’s a big deal for us. We’re really proud of it,” Bessire said. “We have a great staff, a great team. I think that the museum itself right now is really thriving and other museums are looking to us for the way of the future.”

“But we also want to make sure everybody knows we do great scholarship. And we do Homer better than anybody.”

 “Winslow Homer—Painter, Etcher” will be at the museum now through Oct. 18.