Founded in 1892, the Portland Art Museum (PAM) in Portland, Oregon is the only major art museum between Seattle and San Francisco, showcasing the work of artists from across the Pacific Northwest and the globe. A vital cultural destination and educational resource serving audiences who live, work, and visit the region, PAM is internationally recognized for its special exhibitions and encyclopedic collection. Connecting audiences through the arts and engaging with the stories and ideas shaping our present day, the Museum’s diverse programming reflects the passions, values, and creativity of its community.
A cornerstone of the downtown Portland cultural district, PAM is in the midst of a $111M comprehensive campus transformation to expand and upgrade its public and gallery spaces, adding 95,000 square feet of new or renovated gallery space. Seamlessly connecting the Museum’s original building designed by Pietro Belluschi and the Mark Building, a former Masonic Temple, the new glass Mark Rothko Pavilion will create streamlined circulation across all four floors of gallery space and a transparent welcoming “front door” to the museum. Upon completion in late 2025, visitors will encounter an entirely reimagined, more accessible Museum experience with reinstalled galleries and more intuitive pathways to encounter its collection. The transformation project is among the most significant capital projects in the city, and a catalyzing force in revitalizing a downtown core that has been slow to recover after the pandemic. Additionally, the Museum’s film and new media center, PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow opened The Tomorrow Theater on Portland’s Eastside in 2023, creating a new home for cinematic storytelling and extending PAM’s reach to another part of the city.
PAM is home to a collection of over 50,000 objects, including notable holdings of Pacific Northwest art, Native Northwest Coast, Plateau and Western Oregon art; post-WWII American photography; and more than 25,000 prints, drawings, posters, and books spanning 500 years. The collection has a strong sense of place, with art that reflects the regional landscape and culture and works created by generations of artists who have visited, lived, and worked in Oregon including C.E.S. Wood, Ray Atkeson, Carrie Mae Weems, Mickalene Thomas, and Marie Watt. In recent years, the Museum has significantly diversified its holdings, acquiring works by historically underrepresented artists.
Drawing on the strength of its collection and its community ties, PAM’s exhibition programming is created with a thoughtful, progressive curatorial lens to reflect a commitment to artists and to freedom of expression. In 2024, PAM served as co-commissioner for the United States Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, featuring Jeffrey Gibson. Regionally, the Museum serves as an important educational resource, providing school programming and increasing access to its collections by reducing economic barriers to the arts.
