Door County Plein Air Festival

Plein air — the act of painting outdoors. It’s long been a tradition in Door County, beginning with the early artist colonies established on the peninsula in the early 1920s by professors from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. They heard of Door County’s natural beauty and knew it would be the perfect place for a summer art school.

Little evidence of those initial art communities still remain. What has endured is the desire to experience painting and drawing, capturing the landscape and the incredible coastal vistas. That’s why each July, PenArt brings together over 30 of the finest painters in the country — each with their own painting styles and unique perspectives — to honor the tradition of outdoor painting through the week-long Door County Plein Air Festival created by Peninsula School of Art.

Driving through the peninsula, you’ll see these painters peppered along the Door County landscape with their easels, paints, and canvas — capturing how the summer light frames and enhances the fields, coastlines, and the little-known, untouched corners of the peninsula.

However, the Door County Plein Air Festival is far from a one-sided art experience. Watch as the artists paint at our peninsula’s iconic locations. Take in a lecture with prestigious artists and art collectors. Get a front row seat to the fast-paced magic that is the Quick Paint competition, where our invited artists complete a painting from start to finish in record time on the streets and shoreline of Fish Creek. Kids can join in the excitement as well with their own Quick Paint—just stop in at PenArt for a grab-and-go art kit.