The Lyman Orton Collection of the Art of Vermont is the largest private collection of historical paintings, prints, and drawings of places and people of Vermont.

Lyman began collecting scenes of Vermont in the 1970s, and he continues to repatriate “lost” artworks of his home state.  The collection includes works by dozens of talented men and women during what Lyman calls the “Golden Era” of painting – the years from 1910 to 1970.

The collection was first displayed in public at a special exhibition in the summer and fall of 2023. At the same time, Lyman Orton co-authored and published a 220-page companion book about his years of art collecting, titled For the Love of  Vermont: The Lyman Orton Collection.

The exhibition and the book were each a blockbuster sensation, and each generated hundreds of comments from the people who saw the artworks, and from others who read the book. The media took notice, too, with feature articles and rave reviews in The Boston Globe, Yankee Magazine, Art in America Magazine, VT Digger, Seven Days, and dozens of online posts on online media and social media.

Here, and across social media, For the Love of Vermont continues with announcements of upcoming exhibitions, updates on works newly added to the collection, and ongoing comments from the people who love seeing the artwork.

Every aspect of Lyman Orton’s sincere and open emotional connection with Vermont is discernible in the works in The Orton Collection. Every piece he acquired, from artists living and gone, professional or grassroots, was simply for one reason: for the love of Vermont.