Style Spotlight: Homer Studio Opens to Public

The renovated Winslow Homer studio looks out over Saco Bay at Prouts Neck, Maine. CREDIT: Trent Bell Photography

An unassuming gray frame structure on the rocky coast of Maine saw the creation of many of America’s most famous and most loved paintings. From 1883 until his death in 1910, Winslow Homer lived and painted in the little house at Prouts Neck. Acquired by the Portland Museum of Art in 2006, the studio has undergone extensive renovation to restore it to the way it was during Homer’s time there.

This fall the museum began offering tours of this National Historic Landmark, where Homer painted many of his best-known works, including “Signal of Distress,” first shown at the museum in 1893. In conjunction with the tours of the studio, the museum is presenting “Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine,” an exhibition of 35 works from private collections and museums throughout the country, now through Dec. 30. Tours of the studio run through Dec. 2; the spring season of tours picks up again April 2 through June 14.