To riff off an old adage, no artist is an island. Artists are impacted by their immediate surroundings, of course, but also by so much more.
Though Monhegan Island’s seclusion and natural beauty has attracted artists since the late 19th century – perhaps most famously George Bellows, Robert Henri, Rockwell Kent and the Wyeths – many of those who painted here also traveled extensively in Europe, primarily France, where they soaked up influences of the vibrant art movements sweeping the continent. They studied their craft at various schools under the tutelage of other famous artists, and they often bounced seasonally from one to another of the many art colonies that proliferated after the Civil War.
These colonies offered them a chance to socialize and paint with other artists and to take workshops with artists they admired, all leading to a rich cross-pollination of ideas and the further unfoldment of