Francis BACON 1963-70
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Top 10 Bacon Painting Head triptych Self portrait The Man
Chronology : 20th century 1960-1969 1963 1964 1966 1969 1970
See also : Top 10 Bacon Painting Head triptych Self portrait The Man
Chronology : 20th century 1960-1969 1963 1964 1966 1969 1970
Small Triptych
1
1963 George Dyer
2017 SOLD for $ 52M by Christie's
At the turn of the 1960s the art world is demanding changes. Abstraction has taken up too much space and cancels the psychological observation. Francis Bacon then enjoys the top level of fame to such an extent that his sado-masochistic impulses are reversed : after Peter Lacy's death, Francis desires to dominate a young male muse.
George Dyer meets Francis's desire. His massive body evokes the masculine nudes sculpted by Michelangelo. His shabby life as a petty thief innocent of art excites Francis who creates the unverifiable story of their first encounter in 1963 during a burglary in his studio. Francis sometimes nicknames 'Sir George' this magnificent lover.
George has a weak personality that he vainly tries to offset by tobacco, drugs and alcohol. The colossus with feet of clay becomes for Francis a subject of study of the human contradictions. As ever Francis seeks through his models the mirror of his own complexity.
Francis grabs his brushes to exercise his new artistic quest. A homogeneous background enables to vary the expression. His very first study for a portrait of George is a triptych of 35 x 30 cm elements displaying the head in life size, painted in 1963.
That first triptych includes the distortions that erase the age of the sitter by demeaning the features of the face. It was sold for $ 52M by Christie's on May 17, 2017, lot 38 B.
Francis twists the nose and the cheeks and adds vivid colors to better reveal the tensions but the overall features remain perfectly superimposable to the photographs of George. On a black background and with no information on the garment, this triple head that comes out of the shadows with an empty gaze is one of the most profound testimonies by Bacon on the psychological misery of human beings.
George Dyer meets Francis's desire. His massive body evokes the masculine nudes sculpted by Michelangelo. His shabby life as a petty thief innocent of art excites Francis who creates the unverifiable story of their first encounter in 1963 during a burglary in his studio. Francis sometimes nicknames 'Sir George' this magnificent lover.
George has a weak personality that he vainly tries to offset by tobacco, drugs and alcohol. The colossus with feet of clay becomes for Francis a subject of study of the human contradictions. As ever Francis seeks through his models the mirror of his own complexity.
Francis grabs his brushes to exercise his new artistic quest. A homogeneous background enables to vary the expression. His very first study for a portrait of George is a triptych of 35 x 30 cm elements displaying the head in life size, painted in 1963.
That first triptych includes the distortions that erase the age of the sitter by demeaning the features of the face. It was sold for $ 52M by Christie's on May 17, 2017, lot 38 B.
Francis twists the nose and the cheeks and adds vivid colors to better reveal the tensions but the overall features remain perfectly superimposable to the photographs of George. On a black background and with no information on the garment, this triple head that comes out of the shadows with an empty gaze is one of the most profound testimonies by Bacon on the psychological misery of human beings.
2
1964 George Dyer
2014 SOLD for £ 26.7M by Sotheby's
Francis is the most disturbing portrait maker of his time. His exegetes shall enjoy to compare the difference of empathy of the artist with respectively his lover and his friends. Painted in 1964, a triptych portrait of Lucian Freud was sold for £ 23M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
In the same year, Francis made two new triptych portraits of George Dyer. One of them, on dark background, focuses the attention on the abnormal prominence of the jaw.
In 1964, two triptychs by Bacon on a light background express further George's banality and stupidity of the model. One of them was sold for £ 26.7M from a lower estimate of £ 15M by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014, lot 15.
With his hair tuft in the fashion of that time and his big nose, the man loved by Francis is decidedly not a playboy. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the same year, Francis made two new triptych portraits of George Dyer. One of them, on dark background, focuses the attention on the abnormal prominence of the jaw.
In 1964, two triptychs by Bacon on a light background express further George's banality and stupidity of the model. One of them was sold for £ 26.7M from a lower estimate of £ 15M by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014, lot 15.
With his hair tuft in the fashion of that time and his big nose, the man loved by Francis is decidedly not a playboy. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
3
1966 George Dyer
2017 SOLD for $ 39M by Sotheby's
In his relationship with Peter, Francis Bacon had the role of the victim of a sadist. After Peter, his choice to love George is an experience with a younger man, stronger and more handsome than him. This connection with a thug without culture disturbs the friends of Francis, which adds to his pleasure.
George enters the intimacy of Francis without being involved in his intellectual community. Addicted to alcohol and tobacco and probably naive, he does not see the danger. Francis, who spoke a lot throughout his career, says to others : "Death is desire" or "You kill the thing you love".
The triptychs with front face and profiles in life size are a suitable format for Francis. In painting the portraits of his friends, he studies to what extent his own passions are out of range from any conventional ideal. The reason why Francis's art is fascinating is that he goes so far in introspection up to overcoming the bounds of decency.
On November 16, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 39M a triptych on a black background painted in 1966, lot 40 estimated $ 35M. In left and middle images, the crushed nose and the semi-spherical hollows of the orbits have killed any possibility of empathy.
In the same year in large format, George tries to discuss but his disarticulated and sticky body prevents communication. This Portrait of George Dyer Talking, 198 x 147 cm, was sold for £ 42M by Christie's in 2014.
George enters the intimacy of Francis without being involved in his intellectual community. Addicted to alcohol and tobacco and probably naive, he does not see the danger. Francis, who spoke a lot throughout his career, says to others : "Death is desire" or "You kill the thing you love".
The triptychs with front face and profiles in life size are a suitable format for Francis. In painting the portraits of his friends, he studies to what extent his own passions are out of range from any conventional ideal. The reason why Francis's art is fascinating is that he goes so far in introspection up to overcoming the bounds of decency.
On November 16, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 39M a triptych on a black background painted in 1966, lot 40 estimated $ 35M. In left and middle images, the crushed nose and the semi-spherical hollows of the orbits have killed any possibility of empathy.
In the same year in large format, George tries to discuss but his disarticulated and sticky body prevents communication. This Portrait of George Dyer Talking, 198 x 147 cm, was sold for £ 42M by Christie's in 2014.
1963 Henrietta Moraes
2015 SOLD for $ 48M by Christie's
A portrait of Henrietta Moraes by Francis Bacon was sold by Christie's for £ 21.3M on February 14, 2012 and for $ 48M on May 13, 2015, lot 23B.
They were not only boys in Soho drinking clubs. Francis Bacon looks at the girls although he is not sexually concerned with them.
They do not sit in his studio. He requires the photos by John Deakin to prepare the paintings of these friends but it is his usual practice for males or females, in close up faces or full length in the nude.
His two muses are Muriel Belcher and Henrietta Moraes. A painting made in 1961, showing one of them or a mixing of both, was sold for £ 8.3M by Sotheby's on 29 June 2011. That woman looked like a crouching piece of meat.
The figure of Henrietta coming for sale is an oil on canvas 165 x 142 cm painted in 1963. Perhaps in an effort to feature heterosexuality, the artist displays the woman naked on a bed with a pillow.
Henrietta, 33 years old, is not a monster. Francis appreciated that fact and this painting in lavish colors is a rare example of female eroticism in his art.
They were not only boys in Soho drinking clubs. Francis Bacon looks at the girls although he is not sexually concerned with them.
They do not sit in his studio. He requires the photos by John Deakin to prepare the paintings of these friends but it is his usual practice for males or females, in close up faces or full length in the nude.
His two muses are Muriel Belcher and Henrietta Moraes. A painting made in 1961, showing one of them or a mixing of both, was sold for £ 8.3M by Sotheby's on 29 June 2011. That woman looked like a crouching piece of meat.
The figure of Henrietta coming for sale is an oil on canvas 165 x 142 cm painted in 1963. Perhaps in an effort to feature heterosexuality, the artist displays the woman naked on a bed with a pillow.
Henrietta, 33 years old, is not a monster. Francis appreciated that fact and this painting in lavish colors is a rare example of female eroticism in his art.
1964 Lucian Freud
2022 SOLD for £ 43M by Sotheby's
In and around Soho's pubs and clubs, eccentric people tried to have a life of pleasures. They included poets, writers, musicians and of course artists led by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Frank Auerbach. John Deakin was their portrait photographer from inside the gang.
Francis did not accept other people when he was working, until a very late exception for John Edwards. Desiring to reveal the tortuous psyche of his fellows, he relied on Deakin's photos.
Lucian could not escape to be included in that weird pantheon. Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud, oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted in 1964, was sold for £ 43M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2022, lot 10. This artwork was originally the central part of a large triptych broken after a traveling exhibition in 1965 and went out of view afterward. The side panels are still extant.
The model is a photo by Deakin featuring Lucian seated on a bed, the arms outstretched behind him with both fists on the blanket.
On Francis's picture, the bed is replaced by a green bench, the most chilly color that Francis could find for expressing his deep aversion for his friends, often used in period around the distorted figures of Henrietta, Muriel and the late Peter.
There is a sharp contrast between the rotten head in thick green, pink and white and the realistic drawing of the rest of the body. The sleeves are rolled up over the elbows. Francis opened the shirt over Lucian's nude chest, increasing the impression of his friend as a brawler as he was in real life.
On February 10, 2011, Sotheby's sold for £ 23M a small triptych portrait of Lucian Freud by Bacon, 35 cm high, also painted in 1964.
Francis Bacon went deep into the artistic study of confusion between human beings. Indeed Picasso did it before him, drawing in a single face the lines of loved women. When he mixes himself with one of his companions, Francis reaches an extreme level of questioning the mankind.
On June 27, 2012, Christie's sold for £ 21.5M a Study for a self-portrait painted in 1964 by Francis Bacon, 152 x 140 cm, lot 25. A man sits in an empty room. The analysis of this painting by the auction house shows that the head, very distorted, belongs to Francis as suggested by the title. The rest of the body displays the more massive features of Lucian Freud, from a photograph by John Deakin. This surprising discovery is all the more plausible because 1964 was a very good year for the relations between the two artists.
Francis did not accept other people when he was working, until a very late exception for John Edwards. Desiring to reveal the tortuous psyche of his fellows, he relied on Deakin's photos.
Lucian could not escape to be included in that weird pantheon. Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud, oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted in 1964, was sold for £ 43M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2022, lot 10. This artwork was originally the central part of a large triptych broken after a traveling exhibition in 1965 and went out of view afterward. The side panels are still extant.
The model is a photo by Deakin featuring Lucian seated on a bed, the arms outstretched behind him with both fists on the blanket.
On Francis's picture, the bed is replaced by a green bench, the most chilly color that Francis could find for expressing his deep aversion for his friends, often used in period around the distorted figures of Henrietta, Muriel and the late Peter.
There is a sharp contrast between the rotten head in thick green, pink and white and the realistic drawing of the rest of the body. The sleeves are rolled up over the elbows. Francis opened the shirt over Lucian's nude chest, increasing the impression of his friend as a brawler as he was in real life.
On February 10, 2011, Sotheby's sold for £ 23M a small triptych portrait of Lucian Freud by Bacon, 35 cm high, also painted in 1964.
Francis Bacon went deep into the artistic study of confusion between human beings. Indeed Picasso did it before him, drawing in a single face the lines of loved women. When he mixes himself with one of his companions, Francis reaches an extreme level of questioning the mankind.
On June 27, 2012, Christie's sold for £ 21.5M a Study for a self-portrait painted in 1964 by Francis Bacon, 152 x 140 cm, lot 25. A man sits in an empty room. The analysis of this painting by the auction house shows that the head, very distorted, belongs to Francis as suggested by the title. The rest of the body displays the more massive features of Lucian Freud, from a photograph by John Deakin. This surprising discovery is all the more plausible because 1964 was a very good year for the relations between the two artists.
1966 George Dyer
2014 SOLD 42 M£ by Christie's
The sentimental history of Francis Bacon is complex. Dominated by the sadistic Peter, he himself went to be abusive to George. The relationship of Francis with alcohol is not unrelated with this apparent contradiction.
The painting of portraits in large size does not bring the impossible key to the temperament of Francis but enables to track his attempts of communication in life and beyond. He invariably used photos by John Deakin to make recognizable some personal elements of his models within the disasters of heads and bodies.
In 1962, just after the death of Peter in a drinking party, Francis painted Study for Portrait of PL, oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm. The man comfortably seated cross-legged on a sofa is discussing post-mortem while holding a glass of wine. This painting was estimated $ 30 million at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013. It has not been sold.
On February 13, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 42M from an estimate in the region of £ 30M a portrait of George in nearly identical dimensions, painted in 1966 during the sitter's lifetime, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The huge body of the boxer, probably naked, is writhing on a tiny stool. He communicates with a crooked mouth and an inexpressive gaze. Papers on the rug provide a link to his interlocutor. The physical strength of the body is balanced with the apparent size of the empty room looking enlarged like through a fish eye lens.
The painting of portraits in large size does not bring the impossible key to the temperament of Francis but enables to track his attempts of communication in life and beyond. He invariably used photos by John Deakin to make recognizable some personal elements of his models within the disasters of heads and bodies.
In 1962, just after the death of Peter in a drinking party, Francis painted Study for Portrait of PL, oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm. The man comfortably seated cross-legged on a sofa is discussing post-mortem while holding a glass of wine. This painting was estimated $ 30 million at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013. It has not been sold.
On February 13, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 42M from an estimate in the region of £ 30M a portrait of George in nearly identical dimensions, painted in 1966 during the sitter's lifetime, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The huge body of the boxer, probably naked, is writhing on a tiny stool. He communicates with a crooked mouth and an inexpressive gaze. Papers on the rug provide a link to his interlocutor. The physical strength of the body is balanced with the apparent size of the empty room looking enlarged like through a fish eye lens.
1969 Lucian Freud Large Triptych
2013 SOLD for $ 142M by Christie's
As early as 1944, the triptych is the favorite medium of Bacon. The three perspectives cancel the plane of the canvas to provide to the viewer the mental illusion of a three-dimensional space.
Heads in small sizes often come to auction, but larger works are exceptional. On November 12, 2013, Christie's sold for $ 142M Three Studies of Lucian Freud, three oils on canvas painted in 1969, 198 x 148 cm for each element. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The two artists have been friends for nearly a quarter of century. Francis is in his George Dyer period and his appeal to Lucian has no reason to be erotic. Always looking for a total empathy with his entourage, Bacon pays tribute to a rival whom he admires. The seating position is gentle, but the colors and deformities of the face express the passions, in front of a strident yellow background.
Bacon locked Freud in a threadlike prism, similar to a squaring but proving his intent of the three-dimensional nature of the triptych. This desire to control his friend is fictional and symbolic because Bacon, as almost every time, worked this triple portrait from photos made by John Deakin.
Heads in small sizes often come to auction, but larger works are exceptional. On November 12, 2013, Christie's sold for $ 142M Three Studies of Lucian Freud, three oils on canvas painted in 1969, 198 x 148 cm for each element. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The two artists have been friends for nearly a quarter of century. Francis is in his George Dyer period and his appeal to Lucian has no reason to be erotic. Always looking for a total empathy with his entourage, Bacon pays tribute to a rival whom he admires. The seating position is gentle, but the colors and deformities of the face express the passions, in front of a strident yellow background.
Bacon locked Freud in a threadlike prism, similar to a squaring but proving his intent of the three-dimensional nature of the triptych. This desire to control his friend is fictional and symbolic because Bacon, as almost every time, worked this triple portrait from photos made by John Deakin.
1969 Study for Bullfight
2007 SOLD for $ 46M by Sotheby's
Life is a struggle that must include risks. Michel Leiris is looking for a ritual to explain his conception of literature. He finds bullfighting, this game in public between man and beast of which one of them will die. In 1938 he publishes an essay titled Miroir de la Tauromachie.
Francis Bacon, existentialist artist, was familiar with the work of Leiris, famous for his reciprocal influence with Sartre. In 1966 Leiris presented to Bacon a copy of his Miroir. Bacon sees in it a new theme for his art, with a sexual allusion in the physical rapprochement between man and bull. He finds photos in the memory book of the matador Antonio Ordóñez.
In 1969 Bacon prepares canvases 200 x 148 cm, probably for the project of a triptych. Two versions, Study for Bullfight No. 1 and No. 2, show the instant action when the bull passes the matador's cape. The arena is a circular area without background, with a tall concave screen in which the artist installs the crowd of spectators.
The sexual excitement is not achieved in these realistic images. His Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1 displays two major modifications. The screen is now empty, accentuating the intimacy of the two protagonists of the action. In the foreground, a spermatozoid is disproportionately enlarged, and released from a human shadow on which it had been placed.
Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1 was sold for $ 46M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2007, lot 29.
As far as bullfight is concerned, Bacon is neither Hemingway nor Picasso. He probably appreciates that it is illusory to go forward on this theme with his too limited experience of corridas. His torero with a blackened face cannot appeal the aficionados. He will not execute the triptych.
Francis Bacon, existentialist artist, was familiar with the work of Leiris, famous for his reciprocal influence with Sartre. In 1966 Leiris presented to Bacon a copy of his Miroir. Bacon sees in it a new theme for his art, with a sexual allusion in the physical rapprochement between man and bull. He finds photos in the memory book of the matador Antonio Ordóñez.
In 1969 Bacon prepares canvases 200 x 148 cm, probably for the project of a triptych. Two versions, Study for Bullfight No. 1 and No. 2, show the instant action when the bull passes the matador's cape. The arena is a circular area without background, with a tall concave screen in which the artist installs the crowd of spectators.
The sexual excitement is not achieved in these realistic images. His Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1 displays two major modifications. The screen is now empty, accentuating the intimacy of the two protagonists of the action. In the foreground, a spermatozoid is disproportionately enlarged, and released from a human shadow on which it had been placed.
Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1 was sold for $ 46M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2007, lot 29.
As far as bullfight is concerned, Bacon is neither Hemingway nor Picasso. He probably appreciates that it is illusory to go forward on this theme with his too limited experience of corridas. His torero with a blackened face cannot appeal the aficionados. He will not execute the triptych.
1969 Self Portrait for Valerie Beston
2023 SOLD for $ 34.6M by Christie's
Francis Bacon was not an easy fellow. Around 1969 he got bored of his Soho friends and arguably also of his lover George. The self portrait becomes a leading theme in his art.
Valerie Beston was a partner to Francis in London in business and in social life. She was overseeing his affairs at the Marlborough Gallery since 1958. Francis prepares for her use a self portrait in bright impastos in the format of his head triptych elements. The slightly bent head is careful and the hairstyle is clean. He is indeed socially acceptable and even tender behind his distorted nose and mouth.
This oil on canvas 36 x 30 cm painted in 1969 is dedicated "to V with all very best wishes, Francis". It had been exhibited in 1971 in the cornerstone solo exhibition at the Grand Palais where Valerie assisted him. Valerie kept it throughout her life. It was sold for $ 34.6M from a lower estimate of $ 22M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 5A.
Coming from the Newhouse collection, it was hung therein as a pendant with a Study of Henrietta Moraes laughing, oil on canvas of same size and same year, sold for $ 21.7M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 6C.
Valerie Beston was a partner to Francis in London in business and in social life. She was overseeing his affairs at the Marlborough Gallery since 1958. Francis prepares for her use a self portrait in bright impastos in the format of his head triptych elements. The slightly bent head is careful and the hairstyle is clean. He is indeed socially acceptable and even tender behind his distorted nose and mouth.
This oil on canvas 36 x 30 cm painted in 1969 is dedicated "to V with all very best wishes, Francis". It had been exhibited in 1971 in the cornerstone solo exhibition at the Grand Palais where Valerie assisted him. Valerie kept it throughout her life. It was sold for $ 34.6M from a lower estimate of $ 22M by Christie's on May 11, 2023, lot 5A.
Coming from the Newhouse collection, it was hung therein as a pendant with a Study of Henrietta Moraes laughing, oil on canvas of same size and same year, sold for $ 21.7M by Christie's on November 15, 2018, lot 6C.
1970 Self Portrait Diptych
2016 SOLD for $ 35M by Sotheby's
Francis Bacon often undertook to explain his art, with passion. He is a painter, viscerally, and would not consider any other occupation.
Like his fellow Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon desires to express life. Their methods are nevertheless in total opposition. Francis does not wish to compose an image : he seeks the spontaneity. He does not inspect the model on live but is working from photographs. Each personality is complex and a single image is not enough : this is the root cause of the choice of the artist to make triptychs and, less frequently, diptychs.
In 1969, Francis Bacon paints from three instantaneous photos the portrait in triptych of Lucian Freud, which was sold for $ 142M by Christie's in 2013. Francis is 60 years old. His quest for immediacy is already accompanied by the anxiety on his inability to stop his own aging.
In real life, he takes fun at the expense of George Dyer but his Soho friends have also aged. Henrietta is increasingly ugly. A surprising portrait on which the woman is slipping away backwards from the picture frame remained unsold at Christie's on October 19, 2008. Francis looks again at his own face. A self-portrait with a sad gaze, 35 x 40 cm, was sold for $ 33M by Sotheby's on 14 November 2007, lot 19.
In 1970, Francis is desperately seeking a solution to his equation of time. He paints less and less because his old themes are no longer acceptable to him. He executes a self-portrait in diptych 35 x 30 cm per element. His attire is relaxed but the position of the head is haughty : Francis is alone in front of himself. The exuberant expressionist colors accentuate the total control of his art.
Titled Two studies for a self portrait, this work was sold for $ 35M from a lower estimate of $ 22M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The optimistic interpretation made by Sotheby's may be questioned but their conclusion that it is the finest self-portrait by Francis Bacon is highly acceptable.
Like his fellow Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon desires to express life. Their methods are nevertheless in total opposition. Francis does not wish to compose an image : he seeks the spontaneity. He does not inspect the model on live but is working from photographs. Each personality is complex and a single image is not enough : this is the root cause of the choice of the artist to make triptychs and, less frequently, diptychs.
In 1969, Francis Bacon paints from three instantaneous photos the portrait in triptych of Lucian Freud, which was sold for $ 142M by Christie's in 2013. Francis is 60 years old. His quest for immediacy is already accompanied by the anxiety on his inability to stop his own aging.
In real life, he takes fun at the expense of George Dyer but his Soho friends have also aged. Henrietta is increasingly ugly. A surprising portrait on which the woman is slipping away backwards from the picture frame remained unsold at Christie's on October 19, 2008. Francis looks again at his own face. A self-portrait with a sad gaze, 35 x 40 cm, was sold for $ 33M by Sotheby's on 14 November 2007, lot 19.
In 1970, Francis is desperately seeking a solution to his equation of time. He paints less and less because his old themes are no longer acceptable to him. He executes a self-portrait in diptych 35 x 30 cm per element. His attire is relaxed but the position of the head is haughty : Francis is alone in front of himself. The exuberant expressionist colors accentuate the total control of his art.
Titled Two studies for a self portrait, this work was sold for $ 35M from a lower estimate of $ 22M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The optimistic interpretation made by Sotheby's may be questioned but their conclusion that it is the finest self-portrait by Francis Bacon is highly acceptable.
