"The Great Americans: Portraits by Jac Lahav" opens Saturday, Feb. 9, and runs through May 12 at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme.

Organized by the artist and museum curator Amy Kurtz Lansing, the show features more than 30 larger-than-life works exploring the ideas of who we consider "great" and the cultural underpinnings of our perceptions (whether fact or fiction).

Lahav's nearly seven-foot-tall images of famous figures, including Benjamin Franklin, Oprah Winfrey and Albert Einstein, are layered with references to history, lore and imagery that have shaped our understanding of that person.

Born in Israel in 1978 and educated at Wesleyan University and Brooklyn College's MFA painting program, Lahav was inspired to begin The Great Americans portraits after watching a 2005 Discovery Channel series that asked viewers to select who they thought were America's most notable figures, past and present. His portrait series, Lahav says, reflects "the push and pull between who are the people that we see as being great Americans and who actually achieved greatness."

The museum, at 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme, is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sat. and 1-5 p.m. Sun. Admission is $10 adults, $9 seniors,www.florencegriswoldmuseum.org.

$8 students, and free for kids 12 and younger. Call 860-434-5542 or visit