The natural world is fully celebrated in two glorious shows at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) this summer. “Art of the Garden: Selections from the Pat and Nanno de Groot Collection” are on view through July 24. “Your Everyday Myths,” a solo exhibition by Zehra Khan, runs through August 28, with a public reception on July 22.

“Art of the Garden,” curated by PAAM CEO Christine McCarthy, centers on the work of Dutch-born Nanno de Groot (1913-1963). He started making art in 1948 at 35 years old, (take heart, late bloomers.) Self-taught, de Groot wrote in his artist statement that “in moments of clarity of thought, I can sustain the idea that everything on earth is nature, including that which springs forth from a man’s mind and hand. A Franz Kline [painting] is nature as much as a zinnia.”

De Groot considered himself an American Abstract Expressionist as he came into his own when he moved to New York City in 1950. Attracted to the Provincetown/New York connection, he rented a Provincetown studio from Fritz Bultman in 1956. De Groot was intensely productive in the summers he spent here.

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