Paintings from the Berlin Museums Exhibited in Co-operation with The Department of The Army

The Portland Art Museum hosted the travelling exhibition for nine days, November 25 to December 3, 1948, showing all 202 paintings recovered from the Merkers potassium mine and brought to the United States by the Department of the Army. Vermeer’s “Woman with a Pearl Necklace” appeared as catalogue no. 138, illustrated, under the title “Young Woman with a Pearl Necklace,“ consistent with every other stop on the tour.

Portland was one of the last cities on the 1948 itinerary, following Minneapolis and preceding San Francisco’s closing run (December 11–29). The Portland Art Museum, the oldest art museum in the Pacific Northwest and housed in Pietro Belluschi’s 1932 building, served as the region’s sole venue for the tour, bringing the Berlin masterworks to Western US audiences who would otherwise have had no access to them.