About the Museum
Banner Image: The east façade of the Colby College Museum of Art, featuring Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #559, 1988 (installed on site in 2013), color ink wash on wall, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the Estate of Sol LeWitt © The LeWitt Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © 2014 by Trent Bell.
The Colby College Museum of Art is a collecting and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, display and interpretation of the visual arts. We embrace within our collections works of art from diverse cultures and historical periods, with a focus on American art, and commitment to collecting and exhibiting contemporary art. We manage these resources for the benefit of the Colby College community, the region and the nation, and we aspire to display works that embody the highest standards of achievement.
Founded in 1959, the Colby College Museum of Art is a destination for American art, and a place for engagement with local and global communities. Located on the Colby College campus in Waterville, Maine, the Museum holds more than 10,000 works of art and offers more than 38,000 square feet of exhibition space. Major works by American artists, including Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt and William Merritt Chase, form the core of the historical collection, along with significant holdings of American folk art. The modern movement is represented by artists including John Marin, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Jacob Lawrence, Joan Mitchell, Isamu Noguchi and Alma Thomas. The Museum also maintains a significant collection of contemporary American art, including works by Alex Katz, Richard Serra, David Driskell, Agnes Martin, Sol LeWitt, Maya Lin, Kara Walker, Elizabeth Murray, Martin Puryear, Terry Winters and Julie Mehretu. Other principal areas of the collection include Greek and Roman antiquities, European prints and drawings and early Chinese art. A donation of more than 1,500 artworks from Paula and Peter Lunder expands that scope, and the creation of the Lunder Institute for American Art enhances the Museum’s engagement with scholarly and creative production.
Collection Highlights
Alex KatzPas De Deux, 1983
Maya LinDisappearing Bodies of Water: Arctic Ice, 2013
Jackson PollockComposition with Masked Forms, 1941
David Clyde DriskellSoul X, 1968
Georgia O'KeeffeBirch and Pine Trees-Pink, 1925
