Exhibition of eight works by Mark Rothko, shown in chronological order, celebrating the artist who grew up in Portland.
The Art of Mark Rothko opens at the Portland Art Museum on November 20, 2026, and runs through May 30, 2027. It's a small, focused show—eight works by Rothko, hung in chronological order—so you can see how his painting shifted over time rather than jumping around his whole career.
Most of us know Rothko as a giant of mid-century abstract art, but the Portland connection is deeper than you might think. He emigrated from Russia—present-day Latvia—with his family in 1913 and grew up right here in the city. He graduated from Lincoln High School and took his first art classes at the Museum's own school. He left for Yale in 1923 and later settled in New York, but the Museum has kept that tie close: its new entrance pavilion is named in his honor, and for several years it'll be showing art from the collection of his children, Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel.
If you're not familiar with his work, the style he's famous for arrived in the 1950s: layered blocks of color meant to heighten emotion and psychological response. This exhibition takes its cue from his first solo show at the Museum back in 1933, and it's curated by Sara Krajewski, the Eichholz Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
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You'll find it at the Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Ave, in downtown Portland. It opens November 20, 2026, and stays up through May 30, 2027.
