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# Oregon Brings Home the Bacon (Triptych)
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/oregon-brings-home-the-bacon-triptych/
- Published: 2013-12-17T20:47:13.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:17:35.000Z
- Description: Everyone's favorite triptych will be taking a trip to Portland, Oregon, the New York Times has reported.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Portland Art Museum, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:59 (2012, 2013, part 2)

![Portland Art Museum (image via Flickr user Mr_Stein)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/12/3310931544_043c1a014e_z.jpg)

Portland Art Museum (image via Flickr user Mr\_Stein)

Everyone’s favorite triptych will be taking a trip to Portland, Oregon, the *New York Times* has [reported](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/bacons-triptych-to-be-shown-at-portland-art-museum/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Francis Bacon’s “[Three Studies of Lucian Freud](https://hyperallergic.com/francis-bacon-triptych-breaks-world-auction-record-at-142-4m/)” (1969), which set the world auction record at $142 million last month, has been loaned to the Portland Art Museum (PAM) by its anonymous buyer, [where it will be on view](http://www.portlandartmuseum.org/francisbacon-triptych?ref=hyperallergic.com) starting this Saturday, December 21, through March 30, 2014\. Though the PAM press release thanked the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, that mention was in reference to a public exhibitions fund donated by Allen, and a spokesman for the foundation denied that the Microsoft co-founder had bought the Bacon.

Who could it be? The Museum has noted that the painting’s owner is male, West-coast based, and has loaned artworks to the museum in the past. A member of the museum’s [board](http://www.portlandartmuseum.org/page.aspx?pid=594&ref=hyperallergic.com)? Maybe. Nike CEO and art collector Mark Parker? Don’t [bet](http://sobadsogood.com/2012/06/07/the-unreal-office-of-nike-ceo-mark-parker/?postversion=2008011005&ref=hyperallergic.com) the [farm](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303376904579135802125126572?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” (1969) (original image via christies.com)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/12/20131015-bacon_fa_panel2-640.jpg)

Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” (1969), which sold for $142.4M in November. (original image via christies.com)

At any rate, just like the sale of the artwork [itself](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/arts/design/art-is-hard-to-see-through-the-clutter-of-dollar-signs.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), the outcome has its detractors. Philip Kennicot at the *Washington Post* [writes](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2013/12/17/portland-brings-the-francis-bacon/?tid=hpModule%5F5fb4f58a-8a7a-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e&hpid=z14&ref=hyperallergic.com):

> By celebrating the painting with a specially organized exhibition, the museum aligns itself with the commodification of art and effectively endorses the idea that the price tag is a valid a marker of quality.

Maybe so, but in the age of non-profit neoliberalism, the museum’s fetish for capital is more than just pandering for footfalls, it’s an existential orientation. And one needn’t wander very [far](http://gulflabor.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com) afield to take notice. Just [look](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/arts/design/11museum.html?pagewanted=all&ref=hyperallergic.com) [downtown](http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/julia-kaganskiy-appointed-director-of-new-museum-incubator/?ref=hyperallergic.com).