A nice, comfortable museum to visit when in the relaxing city of Portland, Maine. Portland is on the coast in Casco Bay, so gets a lot of tourists looking to escape from the hubbub of NY or Boston. They find what they’re looking for in this city. The museum is centrally located in the nicely renovated old port area. Main seems to like brick for construction materials, and this simple, no-frills building is set right on the street that leads to the section where one finds an abundance of souvenirs with lobsters, seagulls, buoys, lighthouses, loons - all “typical” of Maine.

Skip the cheap souvenirs, go to a place selling beer from a Maine microbrewery, and stop by the PMA. Its site says it has 18,000 works, including some by Picasso, Cassatt, Monet, Degas, Munch and Magritte as well as numerous others. An area name is that of the Wyeths, but there is probably something for every taste. I have been to a Rodin exhibit, and unfortunately missed Kollwitz. Currently, there is one on Georgia O’Keeffe and the camera.

Like many Maine institutions, this one likes doing community educational events, so you will always find something of that nature going on. Nearby there’s an art supply store and the Maine College of Art or MECA. Oh, and there are some good java shops a few short steps away, too.