Francis BACON 1963-70
See also : Top 10 Bacon Painting Self portrait The Man Animals
Chronology : 20th century 1960-1969 1963 1964 1966 1969 1970
Chronology : 20th century 1960-1969 1963 1964 1966 1969 1970
1963 Sir George and the Petty Thief
2017 SOLD for $ 52M including premium
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 perfectly this new need. His powerful 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 deepen this new quest. He likes the series on a homogeneous background for their possibility of varying 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.
Francis twists nose and 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.
This triptych is sold by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 38 B in the post-war and contemporary art evening sale. This lot is the subject of a special publication in 134 pages with an introduction by Brett Gorvy. The February 24 press release announces an estimate between $ 50M and $ 70M. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
George Dyer meets perfectly this new need. His powerful 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 deepen this new quest. He likes the series on a homogeneous background for their possibility of varying 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.
Francis twists nose and 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.
This triptych is sold by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 38 B in the post-war and contemporary art evening sale. This lot is the subject of a special publication in 134 pages with an introduction by Brett Gorvy. The February 24 press release announces an estimate between $ 50M and $ 70M. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1963 How Francis viewed Henrietta
2015 SOLD for $ 48M including premium
A portrait of Henrietta Moraes by Francis Bacon was sold for £ 21.3M including premium by Christie's on February 14, 2012. It comes back for sale on May 13 in New York, also at Christie's, lot 23B.
Here is my previous discussion (slightly modified) of this lot :
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 £ 8.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on 29 June 2011. In discussing this work in this column, I had indicated that the 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 appreciate 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.
Here is my previous discussion (slightly modified) of this lot :
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 £ 8.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on 29 June 2011. In discussing this work in this column, I had indicated that the 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 appreciate 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 The Three-Headed Lover
2014 SOLD 26.7 M£ including premium
At the end of 1963, Francis Bacon develops his new format dedicated to the psychological portrait of his friends : the oil on canvas in three parts 14 x 12 inches each (about 35 x 30 cm).
The image is limited to the head, sometimes with a hand, near life size. The combination of the three views gives an increased presence of the model while compensating the fact that Francis is not a sculptor. The face is reconstructed on a post-cubist mode, with bright colors that meet the other theme of the inevitable decay of the flesh.
At the same time, he made the acquaintance of George Dyer, the massive scammer who excites especially Francis by the fact that he is totally alien to the world of art. Heavy drinker but not yet a deep alcoholic, George is the new wonder of Francis and the subject of one of the first triptychs.
Such triple portraits satisfied Francis. Although he does not work directly with the model, he also does not want any more doing it from memory. His collaboration with the photographer John Deakin, an affiliate in his Soho nights, intensifies in 1964.
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 including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
On 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.
The other, on a light background, is estimated £ 15M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 30, 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.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding triptych portrait by Francis Bacon was sold for £ 26.7M including premium.
The image is limited to the head, sometimes with a hand, near life size. The combination of the three views gives an increased presence of the model while compensating the fact that Francis is not a sculptor. The face is reconstructed on a post-cubist mode, with bright colors that meet the other theme of the inevitable decay of the flesh.
At the same time, he made the acquaintance of George Dyer, the massive scammer who excites especially Francis by the fact that he is totally alien to the world of art. Heavy drinker but not yet a deep alcoholic, George is the new wonder of Francis and the subject of one of the first triptychs.
Such triple portraits satisfied Francis. Although he does not work directly with the model, he also does not want any more doing it from memory. His collaboration with the photographer John Deakin, an affiliate in his Soho nights, intensifies in 1964.
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 including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
On 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.
The other, on a light background, is estimated £ 15M, for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 30, 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.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding triptych portrait by Francis Bacon was sold for £ 26.7M including premium.
1964 The Three-Sided Mirrors of Francis Bacon
2011 SOLD 23 M£ including premium
An essential and prolific part of the art of Francis Bacon is constituted by the triptychs. Giving three different visions of the deformed subjects of his fantasies, the artist provides the key to its three-dimensional interpretation.
He made his relatives and himself parading before his strange three-sided virtual mirror.
On February 10 in London, Sotheby's sells a triptych portrait of Lucian Freud by Bacon, done in 1964. 35 cm high, these paintings are suitable to interest and intrigue psychiatrists and psychoanalysts as well as art lovers. They are illustrated in the article shared by The Telegraph. The exercises of mutual portraits between the two artists have not finished to reveal their secret motivations.
The estimate, £ 7M, seems reasonable when compared to a self-portrait triptych of 1975 of the same size sold £ 17M including premium at Christie's on June 30, 2008. Sotheby's is cautious because of the absence of major works by Bacon at auction since 2008, which was an exceptional year for the rating of this artist.
POST SALE COMMENT
The crossed observation between Bacon and Freud is becoming a major act of the art of the twentieth century. The triptych painted by Bacon was sold £ 23M including premium.
He made his relatives and himself parading before his strange three-sided virtual mirror.
On February 10 in London, Sotheby's sells a triptych portrait of Lucian Freud by Bacon, done in 1964. 35 cm high, these paintings are suitable to interest and intrigue psychiatrists and psychoanalysts as well as art lovers. They are illustrated in the article shared by The Telegraph. The exercises of mutual portraits between the two artists have not finished to reveal their secret motivations.
The estimate, £ 7M, seems reasonable when compared to a self-portrait triptych of 1975 of the same size sold £ 17M including premium at Christie's on June 30, 2008. Sotheby's is cautious because of the absence of major works by Bacon at auction since 2008, which was an exceptional year for the rating of this artist.
POST SALE COMMENT
The crossed observation between Bacon and Freud is becoming a major act of the art of the twentieth century. The triptych painted by Bacon was sold £ 23M including premium.
1964 The Self-Hybridisation of Francis Bacon
2012 SOLD 21.5 M£ including premium
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 in London, Christie's sells a study for a self-portrait painted in 1964 by Francis Bacon. 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. The portrait triptych of Lucian by Francis was sold £ 23M including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
Back to study for self-portrait, of which I will give the dimensions later. The press revealed that £ 20M are expected. Here is the link to the article shared by Bloomberg.
Here are now the size, 152 x 140 cm, and the link to the catalogue.
I invite you to play the film shared on the web by Christie's Multimedia.
POST SALE COMMENT
Here is the result for this strange artwork: £ 21.5 million including premium.
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 in London, Christie's sells a study for a self-portrait painted in 1964 by Francis Bacon. 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. The portrait triptych of Lucian by Francis was sold £ 23M including premium by Sotheby's on February 10, 2011.
Back to study for self-portrait, of which I will give the dimensions later. The press revealed that £ 20M are expected. Here is the link to the article shared by Bloomberg.
Here are now the size, 152 x 140 cm, and the link to the catalogue.
I invite you to play the film shared on the web by Christie's Multimedia.
POST SALE COMMENT
Here is the result for this strange artwork: £ 21.5 million including premium.
1966 Where are All his Lovers
2014 SOLD 42 M£ including premium
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 in London , Christie's sells a portrait of George in nearly identical dimensions, painted in 1966 during the sitter's lifetime, lot 10 in the catalog. This painting is announced in the region of £ 30M by the press release.
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.
On 9 May 2012, Sotheby's sold $ 45 million including premium another portrait of George, again in the same size. Painted in 1976, five years after the suicide of his lover, this haunted image is one of the masterpieces by Francis.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Portraits of George Dyer by Francis Bacon are highly appreciated by the fans of the artist. This one was sold for £ 42M including premium.
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 in London , Christie's sells a portrait of George in nearly identical dimensions, painted in 1966 during the sitter's lifetime, lot 10 in the catalog. This painting is announced in the region of £ 30M by the press release.
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.
On 9 May 2012, Sotheby's sold $ 45 million including premium another portrait of George, again in the same size. Painted in 1976, five years after the suicide of his lover, this haunted image is one of the masterpieces by Francis.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
Portraits of George Dyer by Francis Bacon are highly appreciated by the fans of the artist. This one was sold for £ 42M including premium.
1966 The Killing Love of Francis Bacon
2017 SOLD for $ 39M including premium
In his relationship with Peter, Francis 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.
George's first triptych, in 1963 on black ground, already includes the distortions that erase the age of the sitter by demeaning the features of the face. It was sold for $ 52M including premium by Christie's on May 17, 2017.
In 1964, two triptychs on a light back express further the banality and stupidity of the model. One of them was sold for £ 26.7M including premium by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells 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 including premium by Christie's on February 13, 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.
George's first triptych, in 1963 on black ground, already includes the distortions that erase the age of the sitter by demeaning the features of the face. It was sold for $ 52M including premium by Christie's on May 17, 2017.
In 1964, two triptychs on a light back express further the banality and stupidity of the model. One of them was sold for £ 26.7M including premium by Sotheby's on June 30, 2014.
On November 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells 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 including premium by Christie's on February 13, 2014.
1969 How Bacon caught Freud
2013 SOLD 142 M$ including premium
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 in New York, Christie's sells Three Studies of Lucian Freud, three oils on canvas painted in 1969, 198 x 148 cm for each element.
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.
Christie's does not indicate an estimate but compares the importance of this work with the triptych of the same size sold for $ 86M including premium by Sotheby's on 14 May 2008. Painted in 1976, this work is more symbolic but also less three-dimensional due to the decomposition of the body in the central picture.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The auction sale of this triptych was an important event that Christie's has successfully managed : sold for $ 142M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
Heads in small sizes often come to auction, but larger works are exceptional. On November 12 in New York, Christie's sells Three Studies of Lucian Freud, three oils on canvas painted in 1969, 198 x 148 cm for each element.
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.
Christie's does not indicate an estimate but compares the importance of this work with the triptych of the same size sold for $ 86M including premium by Sotheby's on 14 May 2008. Painted in 1976, this work is more symbolic but also less three-dimensional due to the decomposition of the body in the central picture.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The auction sale of this triptych was an important event that Christie's has successfully managed : sold for $ 142M including premium.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1969 Study for Bullfight by Bacon
2007 SOLD for $ 46M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
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 including premium 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 including premium 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 by Bacon
2007 SOLD for $ 33M by Sotheby's
1970 The Equation of Time of Francis Bacon
2016 SOLD for $ 35M including premium
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 including premium by Christie's on November 12, 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 including premium by Sotheby's on 14 November 2007.
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 is estimated $ 22M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 11, lot 8. I invite you to 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 including premium by Christie's on November 12, 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 including premium by Sotheby's on 14 November 2007.
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 is estimated $ 22M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 11, lot 8. I invite you to 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.
