Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection Group exhibition featuring Georg Baselitz and Anselm Kiefer

For over 70 years, Alex Katz has boldly pursued figurative painting, perfecting his disciplined approach across a storied career. This unique creative vision has also guided the selection of works collected by his foundation. The Alex Katz Foundation Collection includes artists with strong ties to the state (Lois Dodd, Rackstraw Downes, Fairfield Porter), leading figures in American modernism (Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper), today’s rising artists (Kamrooz Aram, Chase Hall), and major figures in the global art sphere (Georg Baselitz, Marlene Dumas, Philip Guston, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke). These gifts establish the PMA as a center for the study and display of modern and contemporary art to be shared with visitors in collection galleries, study room visits, and special exhibitions.  

Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection at the Portland Museum of Art highlights gifts from the foundation to the museum over the past decade and honors Katz’s personal and professional commitment to Maine. The exhibition explores Katz’s vision of the trajectory of modern and contemporary painting, focusing in particular on the pivotal decade of the 1980s. A lavishly illustrated 160-page catalogue accompanying the exhibition will include an extended essay introducing the artistic vision for the collection and short reflections on selected works by artists, curators, and scholars.