Celebrating its 50th anniversary and recognized as one of the finest regional art museums in the country, the Farnsworth Art Museum, in Rockland, Maine focuses on the regional artists of Maine. The distinguished collection of 5,000 works of American paintings and artifacts that spans three centuries includes the artworks of notables like Rockwell Kent, William Wegman, Fitz Hugh Lane, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Thomas Eakins, Louise Nevelson, Thomas Sully, Milton Avery, and the Wyeths.
In 1991, the Farnsworth acquired the classic homestead and grounds of the Olson House in nearby Cushing that had inspired Andrew Wyeth's best-known and hauntingly beautiful painting Christina's World, done in 1948.
In 1998 the museum opened a new gallery devoted to the Maine work of Andrew Wyeth, Jamie Wyeth, and N.C. Wyeth, located in an historic church property on the museum's expansive campus, the $5 million Farnsworth Museum Center for the Wyeth Family in Maine. The Wyeth families donated over 4,500 works of art and archival materials to the collection. With several thousand works by the "first family" of Maine painting, this is the most extensive collection in the world. Betsy Wyeth conceived the first show "Wondrous Strange" that showcased the influences on the artists of Howard Pyle, the outstanding American illustrator and N.C. Wyeth's teacher. The title for the show came directly from the artists, as a phrase used in the family to explain their creative genius.
On the National Registrar of Historic Places and one of the eastern seaboard's finest Greek Revival residences, the Farnsworth Victorian Homestead, is also part of the museum's collection, donated by local heiress and museum benefactor, Lucy Farnsworth (1838-1935). The daughter of Rockland's leading businessman, the frugal and astute Lucy parlayed her father's inheritance into the generous sum of 1.3 million. On her death at the age of 97 in 1935, her will directed the money be used to establish a museum in her father's name.
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