Portland Art Museum

The Portland Art Museum features a distinct, boxy brick facade that stretches across a full city block. Founded in eighteen ninety-two, it holds the title of the oldest art museum on the Pacific Coast. In nineteen twenty-five, a local woman named Julia Hoffman famously convinced the museum board to accept a collection of Japanese prints, sparking a pivot toward international acquisitions. That decision began a long struggle to balance local Pacific Northwest artist representation with a desire for global reach.