Renowned painter Alex Katz has created over 300 portraits of his wife Ada throughout their five-decade marriage, transforming their relationship into one of art's most enduring love stories. The Jewish Museum in New York is currently showcasing 40 of these intimate portraits, offering visitors a glimpse into a remarkable union where romance and artistic inspiration have intertwined for more than half a century.

The couple's story began at a party where a single dance changed everything. "I met her at a party. And I danced with her, and that was it," Katz told Sunday Morning correspondent Sharon Alfonsi. He describes Ada with the eye of both a lover and an artist: "She's like an American beauty. She's got, you know, short nose, full mouth. Big, lots of teeth." When asked if many people consider Ada his muse, Katz readily agrees. "I would say that. Yeah. She inspired a lot of paintings. It's visual, you know. You see something you like and you want to paint it which is really simple."

Before meeting Ada, Alex Katz was already destined for an artistic life. Born and raised in New York City, he showed artistic promise from childhood. "As a kid I was always painting everything," Katz recalled. "I put drawings all over the staircase when I was a kid. And my parents left them there for years and years." His dedication to art continued through formal education, but his artistic journey wasn't without challenges.

Katz developed his distinctive style during the 1960s, a time when abstract expressionism dominated the art world. His commitment to realism made him a controversial figure who faced harsh criticism. "I had people screaming in galleries up until 1975," he said. "Screaming. Yeah. I had people scream that 'This is not art; this is crap.' 'He ought to go back to art school.' Stuff like that." Despite the backlash, Katz remained true to his artistic vision.

Ada vividly remembers her first experience as her husband's model, describing the intense yet professional nature of their artistic collaboration. "I'm aware of this man that I'm involved with in an extremely sensual situation," she said. "He's looking in my eyes. He's looking at my mouth. And it was not a sexy picture. I was fully dressed. I was freezing!" This first portrait marked the beginning of what would become hundreds of artistic interpretations of their relationship.

According to exhibit curator Ruth Beesch, Katz's approach to painting Ada reveals his artistic philosophy. "One of the things he loves about painting Ada is that she gives him some distance. He doesn't have to sort of look into her soul," Beesch explained. "He's much more interested in style, appearance, fashion, in capturing a certain look. So he's interested in the way hair might flip on to the shoulder. He's interested in the kind of collar. He's interested in the way light breaks across a face and creates shapes and density. There's very little emotional attachment."

This detached approach creates portraits that Katz compares to mirrors. "That's what it's supposed to be," he said. "Yeah. It lets people see themselves. A lot of women think they're Ada." The universality of his portraits allows viewers to project themselves into the artwork, creating a broader connection beyond the specific subject.

Katz's meticulous attention to technique matches his careful observation of his subject. Every brushstroke is deliberate, with each brush serving a specific purpose. "Well, some brushes I use a lot," he said. "And some brushes I use once and never again, you know? Like this brush here – you use it on some night paintings where I wanted the white to spot. So I bought the brush [to dab] five times, ten times, clean it and that's it." His obsession with color often consumes more time than the actual painting process.

The artist compares his painting process to playing piano, noting that the actual execution takes only hours despite extensive preparation. He can complete even large-scale works, including 12-foot canvases, in less than a day. This efficiency comes from decades of practice and his systematic approach to color mixing and brush selection.

Despite creating numerous works featuring various subjects, Ada remains Katz's primary focus and inspiration. He has even created multiple versions of her image, but maintains that his wife is truly unique. "She's like a 10. In styling, you know?" he said. "Just her taste, taste is like – she really rarely makes a mistake. Ada can wear anything. If she thinks it looks right. It can be quite bizarre and be out of the five- and ten-cent store. Like she just took a tablecloth and wore it to a very fancy party. And someone said, 'Oh, who did that?'"

As both artist and subject have aged over their 50-year marriage, Katz continues to paint what he observes. He notes Ada's youthful perspective on aging: "A lot of people don't know how old they are, you know? And she's one of them. She always thought she was about 10 or 20 years younger than what she actually is." This ongoing artistic documentation captures not just physical changes but the enduring spirit of their relationship, making their story a testament to how love and art can sustain and inspire each other across decades.