• Today, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland opens its major summer exhibition, “Impressionist Summers: Frank W. Benson’s North Haven.” The show includes some 70 works that demonstrate how the artist’s life on North Haven influenced his art.

Born in 1862, Benson studied in Boston and Paris, and focused much of his career on Boston. But it was on North Haven where he created almost all of his brilliant, sun-drenched impressionist paintings.

Additional Photos

Frank W. Benson's "Sunlight," 1909, oil on canvas, from "Impressionist Summers" at the Farnsworth. Courtesy of the Farnsworth Museum of Art

The show will include paintings (both oil and watercolor), drypoints, etchings and lithographs.

The Farnsworth is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with extended hours to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Admission is $12; $10 for seniors and students; and free for ages 16 and younger. Visit farnsworthmuseum.org or call 596-6457.

• The Portland Museum of Art has just opened its big summer splash, “The Draw of the Normandy Coast.” But it already has its sights set on its next opening: “Maine Sublime: Frederic Edwin Church’s Landscapes of Mount Desert and Mount Katahdin.” It opens June 30 on the fourth floor, and runs through Sept. 30.

Church, a 19th-century landscape painter, came to Maine in 1850, inspired by a portfolio of drawings by his teacher Thomas Cole. During the next few decades, Church visited the Maine coast and rocky islands near Mount Desert, and trekked inland to the area around Mount Katahdin. Organized by Olana Traveling Exhibitions and curated by John Wilmerding, the exhibition will focus on 23 of Church’s small oil sketches. Visit portlandmuseum.org.

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