Portland Art Museum

Visitors can get their French impressionism fix this summer with “Monet to Matisse: French Moderns.”

Portland Art Museum (Wiki Commons)
By Rachel Saslow

1219 SW Park Ave., 503-226-2811, portlandartmuseum.org. 10 am–8 pm Thursday–Friday, 10 am–6 pm Saturday–Sunday. $25, children 17 and under free.

This is an awkward time to visit the Portland Art Museum. Deep into a $111 million renovation, the museum has a “pardon our dust” feel to it this year that will almost certainly be worth it when the gleaming Mark Rothko Pavilion opens in late 2025. There is some construction noise throughout the museum, plus a lot of equipment coming and going out front. The permanent collection galleries are closed to protect the art—even the prized Water Lilies painting by Monet is getting a refresh this year and is off view. Visitors can get their French impressionism (and symbolism, Fauvism, cubism and surrealism) fix this summer with Monet to Matisse: French Moderns, an exhibit of about 60 works of art from the Brooklyn Museum on view June 8–Sept. 15.

Don’t miss: Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks, an exhibition of about 60 high-fashion and futuristic footwear designs on view through Aug. 11.

Will kids like it? Yes. Our kid testers were sucked into the shoe-design activity on tablets at the end of the Future Now exhibit for an unexpectedly long time.

See the rest of Oregon’s Museum Trail here!

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