The Bates College Museum of Art is the art museum of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. It holds various mediums of arts that showcase Maine and the greater American area. The museum's collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art. The Museum publishes numerous art collections, and art publications every year. The primary focuses of the main collections are works on paper, including modern and contemporary art including drawings, prints and photographs.It is the largest museum of art in the city of Lewiston, Maine, followed by Museum L/A. In the 1930s, the college secured a private holding from the Museum of Modern Art of Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night, for students participating in the 'Bates Plan'. It holds 5,000 pieces and objects of contemporary domestic and international art. The museum holds over 100 original artworks, photographs and sketches from Marsden Hartley. The MoA offers numerous lectures, artist symposiums, and workshops.
The entire space is split into three components, the larger Upper Gallery, smaller Lower Gallery, and the Synergy Gallery which is primarily used for student exhibits and research. Almost 20,000 visitors are attracted to the MoA annually. The museum opened on October 7, 1955, as the Treat Gallery by Norma Berger, the niece of Marsden Hartley. With the ushering of the Olin Arts Center on to the campus, the gallery was formed into the Museum of Art at Bates College in 1986. The scope was also increased to facilitate educational programming in sync to the scholarly pursuits of the college and with the Lewiston-Auburn community.
In 2005, the museum reorganized into four galleries: the Bates Gallery, Collection Gallery, the Underground Synergy Seminar space, and the 150 Art Reader Stairwell. As of 2010 the director of the museum is Dan Mills.
