The Portland Art Museum attracts 350,000 visitors a year, which I find very impressive. I also learned that the Portland Art Museum was founded in 1892, and is therefore the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest.
I was surprised by the high calibre of the collection here, with paintings by some of the world's most famous Impressionists like Monet, Renoir and Degas. There's also Post Impressionists; Van Gogh, Gauguin and Cezanne. These paintings have eye watering valuations, some in excess of $60 million. I really didn't expect to see a collection as good as this outside New York or Europe.
The two most valuable paintings at the Portland Art Museum are Claude Monet's Waterlilies (1914) and Vincent Van Gogh's Ox-Cart (1884). Nothing compares to getting up close to examine the energetic brushstrokes of Monet's mesmerizing Waterlilies. Other genres represented in the permanent collection are Modern & Contemporary, Asian, American and Northwestern Art.
I appreciated the Portland Art Museum's location just south of downtown Portland in the leafy South Park Blocks. If you've got a full day to spare, I'd combine it with the excellent Oregon Historical Society Museum just across the road.
The Portland Art Museum is located at 1219 Southwest Park Avenue (check hours & admission).
5 best things to see at Portland Art Museum
1. The visitor favorite at the Portland Art Museum is Monet's Waterlilies.
The highlight of my visit to the Portland Art Museum was Monet's Waterlilies (1914), purchased in 1959. This is the most popular painting in the museum, and attracts the biggest crowds.
Apparently there are two other Monet's at the Portland Art Museum, but I didn't see them. They are the oil painting River at Lavacourt (1879), and pastel on blue paper; Honfleur, Sailboats and Lighthouse (1866).
Above and below is Waterlilies (1914).
2. Vincent Van Gogh's Ox-Cart (1884) is one of his earliest works.
I love the story about how the Portland Art Museum came in possession of one of Van Gogh's earliest works, the Ox-Cart (1884), painted in the Dutch village of Nuenen.
During the 1950s a family from Roseburg Oregon purchased the painting, then hung it in their dining room for decades. It wasn't until the 1980s, well after Van Gogh's death, that the painting became valuable. The family then graciously decided to donate the painting to the Portland Art Gallery in 2010, where it could be shared with the public.
3. There are works by Impressionists Renoir and Degas, and Post-Impressionists Gauguin and Cezanne.
Young Girls Reading (1891) by Renoir.
The Seine at Argenteuil (1873) by Renoir.
La Halle Aux Vins (1872) by Cezanne.
Madame de Nittis (1872) by Degas.
Garden View, Rouen (1884) by Gaugain.
4. The architect also designed the famous Pan-Am building in New York.
I was impressed by the red brick building that houses the Portland Art Museum's collection, that opened in 1932. It's a modernist-style building on Southwest Park Avenue that I learned was designed by Portland's most famous architect, Pietro Belluschi. It's fascinating to know that 30 years later, he also helped design New York's Pan-Am building, which opened in 1963.
Next door I could see the Mark Building, which was originally a Masonic Temple. It was constructed in 1925 in the Georgian Revival style with a classical portico. It was acquired by the Portland Art Museum in 1994, and later renovated in 2005. Today it houses event spaces, a library and administrative offices.
5. The bronze "Eye of Orion" (1982) sculpture dominates the courtyard.
It's easy to walk by the gold statue out the front of the Portland Art Museum, and not understand it's significance. It was actually sculpted by Manuel Izquierdo, who achieved great renown in America, and exhibited works at The Met in NY. He was originally from Spain, and immigrated to the United States in the 1940s.
I also love his gold "Dreamer" (1979) sculpture in downtown Portland's Pettygrove Park.
- Address: 1219 Southwest Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205
- Hours and tickets: here
- Parking: metered on-street parking.
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