The glorious saints and archangels in this gallery were made in the Americas but far from the United States. Elvin A. Duerst\u2019s gift of works from the Spanish viceregal or colonial period in Central and South America from 1521 until the revolutions led by Simon Bolivar liberated these areas from Spanish control in 1821. Oregon-born and educated Duerst was an American foreign aid worker who spent years in Central and South America where he assembled much of his collection. This art represents a tradition rarely present in US museums but familiar to millions from Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico. The violent conquest of the Americas by Iberian powers, beginning in the sixteenth century, did not displace the peoples of the Incan and Aztec empires. Artists and artisans applied their advanced skills to the new religion of Christianity, producing an iconography and style completely new and reflective of their ancient cultures. The Duerst gift is shown here along with other examples of Ibero-American art of that period, as well as examples of pre-contact works in ceramic, textiles.<\/p>","excerpt":"","slug":"highest-heaven","image":{"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-scaled.jpg","id":14408,"extension":"jpg","width":1772,"height":2560,"filesize":558759,"sizes":{"medium":{"width":485,"height":700,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":50753,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-485x700.jpg"},"large":{"width":906,"height":1308,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":168977,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-906x1308.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"width":270,"height":270,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":13287,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-270x270.jpg"},"medium_large":{"width":768,"height":1109,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":122508,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-768x1109.jpg"},"1536x1536":{"width":1063,"height":1536,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":227938,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-1063x1536.jpg"},"2048x2048":{"width":1418,"height":2048,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":384147,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-1418x2048.jpg"},"small":{"width":375,"height":500,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":29973,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-375x500.jpg"},"medium-large":{"width":623,"height":900,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":81683,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-623x900.jpg"},"card":{"width":904,"height":565,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":87767,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-904x565.jpg"},"post":{"width":975,"height":500,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":84468,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-975x500.jpg"},"hero":{"width":1800,"height":1080,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":243199,"url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-1800x1080.jpg"}},"original_image":"Archangel-Gabriel.jpg"},"all_day":true,"start_date":"2025-01-19 00:00:00","start_date_details":{"year":"2025","month":"01","day":"19","hour":"00","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"end_date":"2026-06-01 23:59:59","end_date_details":{"year":"2026","month":"06","day":"01","hour":"23","minutes":"59","seconds":"59"},"utc_start_date":"2025-01-19 08:00:00","utc_start_date_details":{"year":"2025","month":"01","day":"19","hour":"08","minutes":"00","seconds":"00"},"utc_end_date":"2026-06-02 06:59:59","utc_end_date_details":{"year":"2026","month":"06","day":"02","hour":"06","minutes":"59","seconds":"59"},"timezone":"America\/Vancouver","timezone_abbr":"","cost":"","cost_details":{"currency_symbol":"$","currency_code":"USD","currency_position":"prefix","values":[]},"website":"","show_map":false,"show_map_link":false,"hide_from_listings":true,"sticky":false,"featured":false,"categories":[{"name":"Exhibitions","slug":"exhibitions","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":17,"taxonomy":"tribe_events_cat","description":"","parent":0,"count":201,"filter":"raw","id":17,"urls":{"self":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories\/17","collection":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-json\/tribe\/events\/v1\/categories"}}],"tags":[],"venue":{"id":290,"author":"1","status":"publish","date":"2023-03-28 10:28:29","date_utc":"2023-03-28 17:28:29","modified":"2024-03-07 10:38:06","modified_utc":"2024-03-07 18:38:06","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/venue\/portland-art-museum\/","venue":"Portland Art Museum","description":"
The Museum is conveniently located on the historic Park Blocks in the center of downtown Portland, which is easy to get around by public transit or on foot. The Portland Business Alliance has installed way-finding signs which direct you to the cultural district, where the Museum is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is generally plenty of street parking surrounding the Museum. These spaces range from 1 \u2013 4 hours and can be paid for using a credit card or the Parking Kitty app<\/a>. There are also surface parking lots, and parking garages within 1 \u2013 4 blocks of the Museum. The closest surface lot is located at SW Main St. between SW 10th Ave. and Park Ave, and there are dedicated accessible and van accessible spaces. This lot accepts credit card or the Reef app<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting to get to the Museum by public transportation is straightforward and economical. The bus and streetcar travel directly past the Museum, and the MAX light rail has a stop only four blocks away.\u00a0TriMet\u2019s Trip Planner<\/a>\u00a0gives you step-by-step travel directions from your location by bus, light rail, or streetcar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Transportation assistance is available through TriMet\u2019s network of fully accessible bus and MAX lines<\/a> and its LIFT service<\/a>, which is available for trips where a disability prevents the use of bus or MAX.<\/p>","slug":"portland-art-museum","address":"1219 SW Park Ave","city":"Portland","province":"OR","state":"OR","zip":"97205","phone":"(503) 226-2811","stateprovince":"OR","json_ld":{"@type":"Place","name":"Portland Art Museum","description":"<p>The Museum is conveniently located on the historic Park Blocks in the center of downtown Portland, which is easy to get around by public transit or on foot. The Portland […]<\/p>\\n","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/venue\/portland-art-museum\/","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"1219 SW Park Ave","addressLocality":"Portland","addressRegion":"OR","postalCode":"97205"},"telephone":"(503) 226-2811","sameAs":""},"show_map":true,"show_map_link":true,"global_id":"portlandartmuseum.org?id=290","global_id_lineage":["portlandartmuseum.org?id=290"]},"organizer":[],"custom_fields":[],"json_ld":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Event","name":"Highest Heaven","description":"<p>The glorious saints and archangels in this gallery were made in the Americas but far from the United States. Elvin A. Duerst\u2019s gift of works from the Spanish viceregal or […]<\/p>\\n","image":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Archangel-Gabriel-scaled.jpg","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/event\/highest-heaven\/","eventAttendanceMode":"https:\/\/schema.org\/OfflineEventAttendanceMode","eventStatus":"https:\/\/schema.org\/EventScheduled","startDate":"2025-01-19T00:00:00-08:00","endDate":"2026-06-01T23:59:59-07:00","location":{"@type":"Place","name":"Portland Art Museum","description":"<p>The Museum is conveniently located on the historic Park Blocks in the center of downtown Portland, which is easy to get around by public transit or on foot. The Portland […]<\/p>\\n","url":"https:\/\/portlandartmuseum.org\/venue\/portland-art-museum\/","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"1219 SW Park Ave","addressLocality":"Portland","addressRegion":"OR","postalCode":"97205"},"telephone":"(503) 226-2811","sameAs":""},"performer":"Organization"},"is_virtual":false,"virtual_url":null,"virtual_video_source":""}Public transit<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n