Portland Art Museum

Portland Art Museum

Downtown Portland is an interesting place, from the shopping off Broadway to the Skyscrapers and business parks Downtown is an exceptionally eclectic area. The Portland Art Museum was founded in 1892 making it the seventh oldest art museum in the United States and the oldest on the West Coast.  It is a beautiful brick building with permanent exhibits of Asian Art, Native American art, Pacific Northwest Art, and modern and contemporary art as well as a number of small and large traveling exhibits in residence. The Portland Art Museum is a landmark and permanent fixture in the  Portland downtown district. 

Though the traveling exhibits in residence are wonderful and the something spectacular. The museum has a collection of over 40,000 objects which includes masterpieces such as:  “Castel Gandolfo” by George Inness, “Mount Hood” by Albert Bierstadt, “Arrival of the Westerners” by Kano School (Edo Period Screen), “Paris: Quai de Bercy — La Halle aux Vins” by Paul Cézanne, “Water Lilies” by Claude Monet, “The Prince Patutszky Red” by Jules Olitski, “Seine at Argentieul” by Pierre Renoir, “River at Lavacourt” by Claude Monet, “The Ox-Cart” by Vincent van Gogh, "Nativity" by Taddeo Gaddi, "Madonna and Child" by Cecco di Pietro, "Allegory Figure of Woman" by Franz Von Stuck, "Top of The Town" by Roger Brown and many more. I for some unknown reason find the myself more easily getting lost in the more functional art on exhibit. 

Bruce and Mary Stevenson Gallery

Ceremonial Mask

The objects that were at one time merely a functional part of someones life. The beautiful English silver exhibit of tea pots and cocoa pots items that were beautiful and functional. Maybe its the born and raised Pacific North westerner in me, but I love the Native American Art. The detail and intricacy of everything from their moccasins to their vests from their house panels to their ceremonial masks, its beautiful. Its the Artist-less art I love the most. They are the pieces that capture a civilization the objects and elements of a group of people that truly show how unbelievably beautiful and functional art truly can be.