Monhegan Island Artist Colony
Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum
Perched on Monhegan’s Whitehead Cliffs 160 feet above the Atlantic, en plein air painters set up their easels and brushes. If not for the Gore-Tex windbreakers and cell phones peeking out of back pockets, this could be a scene from the early 1900s instead of today.
Monhegan Island has drawn artists to its dramatic beauty since the 1850s. Once the first boarding house on the island opened in the late 1880s, dozens of artists began spending their summers sketching and painting on the island. By the turn of the last century, the island’s reputation as an artist colony was established.
Notable artists such as George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, Andrew and Jamie Wyeth, and Lynne Drexler helped make Monhegan one of the country’s best-known and most influential artist colonies. Artists continue to work and live on the island. Many open their studios to visitors. Since 1989, the Monhegan Artists’ Residency has helped the colony by bringing new artists to the island, providing them with rent-free housing, studio space, and crucially, the uninterrupted time to immerse themselves in their work and the island that has captivated and inspired artists for more than 170 years.
Author: Stephanie Bouchard
