Robert Freimark - 50 States

A Love Letter to America

at THE MILKEN CENTER, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Happy Birthday, America:

Robert Freimark's Fifty States Embarks on a National Museum Tour

As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, one of the country's most remarkable artistic tributes is once again traveling across America.

Robert Freimark's legendary Fifty States series—fifty original hand-pulled serigraphs inspired by each of the fifty United States—is currently on view at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream in Washington, D.C. Through July 31, visitors can experience the complete suite before it continues its national museum tour, with confirmed exhibitions at The Frank Museum of Art in Ohio, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the Diederich Art Gallery in Minnesota.

Created between 1960 and 1968, Fifty States was the culmination of a deeply personal ambition. Freimark believed that if he was going to create a portrait of America, he first had to experience it. He traveled to every state, absorbing its landscapes, history, architecture, culture, and people before translating those impressions into abstract compositions. Each print became far more than a geographical representation—it became an emotional portrait of place.

Freimark was a proud American. He spent seven years serving in the United States Navy, including throughout World War II, before embarking on a remarkable artistic career that would span more than six decades. His patriotism was never loud or theatrical. Instead, it revealed itself through curiosity, respect, and an enduring fascination with the extraordinary diversity of the American landscape.

The artist described each print as the product of extensive research and refinement to capture "the central significance of the geographical area involved." That philosophy transformed Fifty States into something unique in American art history. Rather than documenting states literally, Freimark distilled memory, atmosphere, history, and geography into bold abstract compositions that remain as compelling today as when they were first created.

The importance of the series was recognized early. In 1976, Fifty States was selected as the official United States Bicentennial presentation for the opening of Amerika Haus in Munich, Germany, introducing an international audience to a distinctly American vision of abstraction. Nearly fifty years later, the approaching Semiquincentennial has renewed institutional interest in the project, underscoring its enduring relevance as both an artistic achievement and a celebration of the American experience.

Robert Freimark's career extended far beyond Fifty States. Born in Michigan in 1922 and based in California for much of his life, he worked across painting, watercolor, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, tapestry, film, and video. His work appeared in more than 250 solo exhibitions and entered the collections of more than one hundred museums worldwide, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the British Museum, the Library of Congress, and many other distinguished public collections.

Museum Tour

Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream
Washington, D.C.
Now through July 31, 2026

The Frank Museum of Art
Ohio
August 19 – December 2, 2026

Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland
January 8 – February 9, 2027

Diederich Art Gallery
Minnesota
March – May 2027

Additional museum venues will be announced.

Works by Robert Freimark are available through HOHMANN. We invite you to discover original paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints online or by appointment at the gallery. A comprehensive catalog devoted to Robert Freimark and Fifty States is currently in preparation.

50 States preview at HOHMANN, Palm Desert

"California" | 1962 | Serigraph | Edition of 71 | 18 x 24 in, framed 26 x 31.5 in