Alex Katz: Painting Energy

To see things in the present time period, you have to break through, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.
– Alex Katz

Alex Katz will turn 98 on July 24th. He has had much success during his career and the last few years have been the icing on the cake; he was given a spectacular  retrospective at the Guggenheim in October 2022 and honored at the White House, where he received the National Medal of Arts in October 2024.

 

What most don’t know about Alex Katz, is that he is a generous supporter of artists and museums. The Alex Katz Foundation, overseen  by Katz; his wife, Ada, his son, Vincent; and his daughter-in-law, Vivien, have donated more than 700 works to art institutions and millions of dollars to various arts organizations.

 

The works donated by the Foundation are modern and contemporary works done by both established artists like Fairfield Porter, Charles Burchfield and Edward Hopper and up-and-coming artists like Kamrooz Aram and Chase Hall.

 

 

Many of the Foundation’s gifts have been given to the Portland Museum of Art, to which Katz and his family have established a relationship for many years. Though he is a consummate New Yorker and has worked in his SoHo studio since 1968, the family has been spending summers in Lincolnville, Maine since the 1950s, where Katz has painted some of his finest works.

 

 

The museum currently has an exhibit of nearly 150 of the donated works on view. Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection at the Portland Museum of Art will be on display through September 15, 2025.

 

 

A 160-page exhibition catalog, that includes insights on the works from several artists, curators, scholars, and Katz himself, is available to provide additional insight into the extraordinary collection. “We at the Foundation hope visitors will enjoy the collection,” Katz said, “and take away something of the energy to be found in these works.”

 

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Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Alex Katz available at Surovek Gallery.

 

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July 9, 2025