Why So Much Expensive Art Travels to Oregon

Francis Bacon's Three Views of Lucien Freud
By NIGEL JAQUISS

The New York Times drilled down over the weekend on the phenomenon of high-priced art purchases that come to Oregon for temporary exhibitions. The recent showing of painter Francis Bacon's Three Studies of Lucien Freud, which arrived in Portland shortly after Las Vegas collector Elaine Wynn allegedly paid $142.4 million for it at auction in New York is only the latest example of this puzzling practice.

The Times reports there is a simple, three-word explanation for why the Portland Art Museum and the University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art: no sales taxes. (WW earlier reported on the use of Oregon's sales-tax-free zone as a reason the Bacon triptych visited Portland and speculated—incorrectly—on who might have bought it.)

Here's that the Times wrote:

WWeek 2015

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.