WATERVILLE - The Colby College Museum of Art is presenting seven world-class works of art from the Joan Whitney Payson collection on biennial loan from the Portland Museum of Art.

The collection, to be on display through June 1, includes paintings by Marc Chagall, Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Alfred Sisley.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free and the museum is accessible to people with disabilities.

Through June 15, a collection of prints by James McNeill Whistler will be exhibited. Peter and Paula Lunder assembled the collection, comprising more than 200 etchings and lithographs.

The exhibit serves not only as an overview of Whistler's printmaking career but also highlights a number of rare examples that reveal his working process, according to museum officials. Important selections include examples of Whistler's trial proofs, three pairs of prints that show how he developed his images through successvie printings from the same plate and a rare pastel that illustrates how he treated similar subjects in different media.

Work by Maine-based installation artist Amy Stacey Curtis also is on display through April 13. Curtis, who has been working in abandoned industrial sites throughout the state for the past seven years, creates interactive art that examines our interconnectedness through themes of chaos, order and repetition.

Those wanting more information may call the museum at 859-5600 or visit its Web site at http://www.colby.edu/museum/