(Above: Rolling Hills #2, (Italy) by Robert Schlegel)

Edited by Randi Bjornstad

The opening reception for a new show of artwork by the late Oregon artist Robert Schlegel will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. during downtown Eugene’s First Friday ArtWalk on  Aug. 1, 2025, with family members of the venerated Northwest painter in attendance.

The show opens on July 30 at the Karin Clarke Gallery at 760 Willamette St. and will run through Sept. 27.

Titled Robert Schlegel: Italian Journey, it is a solo exhibit of more than 30 of the well-known artist’s smaller and medium-sized works. Many of his creations reflected the people, landscape, and buildings of his Pacific Northwest roots, but he also had an affinity for the hills and buildings of Italy’s picturesque hill towns.

Robert Schlegel’s Woman in Black Dress

Some of the paintings in this exhibit showcase his travels in 2006, when he devoted a trip to Tuscany to sketch, create on-the-spot plein-air paintings, and study the artistic heritage of the northern Italian region. But others represent his closer-to-home affinity for the scenes and people of Oregon, capturing the varied colors and textures found in the two very different atmospheres and cultures.

For Schlegel, who died at age 73  in 2021 at the Oregon coast where his family had farmed since 1877, art was a second career. He started his work life in public education, first becoming a high school teacher, and later a public school administrator in the Portland area.

His life as an artist really began in 2002, when he began painting full-time and once described his attention to detail as “tenacious with the sketch, whether it be in a life-drawing session or in the field. Through line, contrast, texture, color and composition, I explore my responses to form and shape where human-made objects collide with objects in the natural world.”

Schlegel’s artwork — including paintings and assemblages — has been shown widely, including in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Georgia, Idaho, and Texas — and his work is included in permanent collections at several universities, including Stanford, Brown, and Yale.

This solo show at the Karin Clarke Gallery includes many pieces that are being shown publicly for the first time.

Castelfiorentino, one of Robert Schlegel’s paintings from time spent in Tuscany.