Francis BACON before 1963
1949 The Third Head
2013 SOLD 10.4 M£ including premium
The art world discovered Francis Bacon in 1949. It was a shock. Taking foot against all themes in fashion, Bacon expresses horror, abjection, loneliness and animality of man. Art critics, Wyndham Lewis among them, are already enthusiastic.
At the invitation of Erica Brausen, Bacon exhibits ten paintings from November 8 to December 10 at the Hanover Gallery: six Heads, three Studies and a Figure in a landscape. At 40, this dissatisfied artist is still unknown for one simple reason: as far as he was not happy with the maturity of his style, he had used to destroy his own work as soon as executed.
Time has finally come for that so desired maturity. The ten works exhibited by Brausen anticipate a variety of aspects of Bacon's language. Heads or bodies dissolve in the sober background of the scene. Already, the crucifixion is a triptych.
The trauma of the image of the Battleship Potemkin had profoundly influenced Bacon. He dissociates it for using it within two separate heads. In Head VI, the scream of the nurse gives a provocative meaning to Velazquez's Pope. The nose clip, an accessory already outdated, adorns the face of the man in Head III.
Head III, oil on canvas 81 x 66 cm, has the sharp line of a portrait that could be recognizable. The man with sharp gaze and no forehead is certainly his friend Eric Hall. This could be the most ancient non destructed portrait in the work of Francis Bacon.
Head III is for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 26. The estimate at £ 5M seems too low but this caution from the auction house can be explained by the fact that no similar work has recently appeared on the art market.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting is outstanding in the chronology of the art of Bacon. It was sold for £ 10.4 million including premium.
At the invitation of Erica Brausen, Bacon exhibits ten paintings from November 8 to December 10 at the Hanover Gallery: six Heads, three Studies and a Figure in a landscape. At 40, this dissatisfied artist is still unknown for one simple reason: as far as he was not happy with the maturity of his style, he had used to destroy his own work as soon as executed.
Time has finally come for that so desired maturity. The ten works exhibited by Brausen anticipate a variety of aspects of Bacon's language. Heads or bodies dissolve in the sober background of the scene. Already, the crucifixion is a triptych.
The trauma of the image of the Battleship Potemkin had profoundly influenced Bacon. He dissociates it for using it within two separate heads. In Head VI, the scream of the nurse gives a provocative meaning to Velazquez's Pope. The nose clip, an accessory already outdated, adorns the face of the man in Head III.
Head III, oil on canvas 81 x 66 cm, has the sharp line of a portrait that could be recognizable. The man with sharp gaze and no forehead is certainly his friend Eric Hall. This could be the most ancient non destructed portrait in the work of Francis Bacon.
Head III is for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 26. The estimate at £ 5M seems too low but this caution from the auction house can be explained by the fact that no similar work has recently appeared on the art market.
POST SALE COMMENT
This painting is outstanding in the chronology of the art of Bacon. It was sold for £ 10.4 million including premium.
1952 Study for a Nightmare
2019 SOLD for $ 50M including premium
Francis Bacon used to destroy his own works as soon as they did not suit him anymore. Almost everything has gone. An oil on linen simply titled and dated Painting 1946 survived because it was bought very early by the gallerist Erica Brausen for Graham Sutherland.
Painting 1946 is a surrealist work. The artist originally wanted to stage a chimpanzee because visitors like to recognize themselves in a painting as in their own mirror. The monkey turned into a bird of prey and then into a foul creature encircled behind a barrier like in a museum.
The success of Painting 1946 led in 1949 to the project of a series of six Heads, also supported by Brausen. With an increasing intensity from I to VI, Bacon frees two of his major obsessions, the snapshot of death symbolized by the scream of the old woman in Battleship Potemkin, and the vanity of power symbolized by Velazquez's Innocent X.
For many years Bacon paints studies associating the same hallucinations. An impotent pope is trapped on his throne as in a cage. The resemblance to the Eisenstein film scene is reinforced by the broken nose-clip in front of the swollen eye. He no longer needs a monkey to offer to the viewer the mirror of his horror.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Study for a Head, oil and sand on canvas 66 x 56 cm painted in 1952, lot 9 estimated $ 20M. This nightmare is heavily inspired by the character of the Potemkin. The pontifical inspiration is not obvious in this specific opus.
Painting 1946 is a surrealist work. The artist originally wanted to stage a chimpanzee because visitors like to recognize themselves in a painting as in their own mirror. The monkey turned into a bird of prey and then into a foul creature encircled behind a barrier like in a museum.
The success of Painting 1946 led in 1949 to the project of a series of six Heads, also supported by Brausen. With an increasing intensity from I to VI, Bacon frees two of his major obsessions, the snapshot of death symbolized by the scream of the old woman in Battleship Potemkin, and the vanity of power symbolized by Velazquez's Innocent X.
For many years Bacon paints studies associating the same hallucinations. An impotent pope is trapped on his throne as in a cage. The resemblance to the Eisenstein film scene is reinforced by the broken nose-clip in front of the swollen eye. He no longer needs a monkey to offer to the viewer the mirror of his horror.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells Study for a Head, oil and sand on canvas 66 x 56 cm painted in 1952, lot 9 estimated $ 20M. This nightmare is heavily inspired by the character of the Potemkin. The pontifical inspiration is not obvious in this specific opus.
1953 Study for a Trivial Man
2011 SOLD 18 M£ including premium
The artists of the twentieth century have greatly admired Velazquez. Francis Bacon goes further: his many studies of Innocent X are a great example of appropriation. Any pope is a human, and therefore has the ability to scream, but which message does he screams so? His social position does not allow such an arrogance.
In the artistic language of Bacon, a man who does not scream may be even more terrible because he does not eject his tensions. Painted in 1953, the Study for a portrait for sale by Christie's in London on June 28 anticipated by a few months the Man in Blue series. It is shared by Christie's Audio.
On this large oil on canvas, 198 x 137 cm, the anonymous man is sitting in an armchair, like a pope. Attention is drawn to the ageing serious face and to trivial attributes of social success like the glasses and the tie. The rest of the subject melts into the dark and sinister atmosphere.
This portrait is like a mirror where the viewer sees his own banality charged by empty feeling. This is a key work in the artistic development of Bacon. The auction house prefer not publishing an estimate.
POST SALE COMMENT
The price, £ 18M including premium, is consistent with the fact that it is a key work in the art of Bacon.
In the artistic language of Bacon, a man who does not scream may be even more terrible because he does not eject his tensions. Painted in 1953, the Study for a portrait for sale by Christie's in London on June 28 anticipated by a few months the Man in Blue series. It is shared by Christie's Audio.
On this large oil on canvas, 198 x 137 cm, the anonymous man is sitting in an armchair, like a pope. Attention is drawn to the ageing serious face and to trivial attributes of social success like the glasses and the tie. The rest of the subject melts into the dark and sinister atmosphere.
This portrait is like a mirror where the viewer sees his own banality charged by empty feeling. This is a key work in the artistic development of Bacon. The auction house prefer not publishing an estimate.
POST SALE COMMENT
The price, £ 18M including premium, is consistent with the fact that it is a key work in the art of Bacon.
1954 The Post War Pope
2012 SOLD 30 M$ including premium
The post-war artists feel an irrepressible need to shout their disgust. Among them, Francis Bacon chooses a shocking representation. In 1948, he began his series of screaming Heads. The huge round mouth is an image inspired from the Battleship Potemkin film by Eisenstein.
The most powerful man on the planet is as weak as everybody. Head VI was Bacon's first work that was directly inspired by the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez. The papal throne, not visible in the first image, has become a straitjacket, and the character has lost any freedom of movement.
Bacon executes many studies on this theme that soon makes him famous. A network of vertical or oblique lines more or less colored come to still more imprison that symbolic post-war Pope.
Executed circa 1954, the oil on canvas, 152 x 94 cm, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 13 is estimated $ 18M. The head and hands are the only clear spots in this dark composition. It is a masterpiece of the expression of anguish.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The series of the screaming Popes made Bacon famous. This interesting and early example was sold $ 30M including premium.
The most powerful man on the planet is as weak as everybody. Head VI was Bacon's first work that was directly inspired by the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez. The papal throne, not visible in the first image, has become a straitjacket, and the character has lost any freedom of movement.
Bacon executes many studies on this theme that soon makes him famous. A network of vertical or oblique lines more or less colored come to still more imprison that symbolic post-war Pope.
Executed circa 1954, the oil on canvas, 152 x 94 cm, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 13 is estimated $ 18M. The head and hands are the only clear spots in this dark composition. It is a masterpiece of the expression of anguish.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The series of the screaming Popes made Bacon famous. This interesting and early example was sold $ 30M including premium.
1955 Portrait of a Contemporary Pope
2015 SOLD for £ 10M including premium
Francis Bacon composed his paintings from photographs. Troubled by the paradox of the human vulnerability of the most powerful leaders, he displays their pictures in his studio.
He focuses his analysis on two popes, the image of the painting of Innocent X by Velazquez and a photograph of the Pope of his time, Pius XII. Reigning since 1939, Pius XII had been confronted with the atrocities of war and racism with an efficiency that would later be disputed. His elongated head and hollow cheeks perfectly illustrate the theme chosen by Bacon.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells Study for a head painted by Bacon in 1955, oil on canvas 102 x 77 cm, lot 17.
In the expressive style of the artist, the face of the pope is perfectly recognizable, and his glasses were not omitted. The dark colors on a black background increase the tragic feeling that haunts Francis after the Battleship Potemkin.
What was happening into the troubled mind of the artist ? A continuity of style is established between this painting and his first self-portrait, made in the following year, as if Francis suddenly understood that the vulnerability of others that aroused his discomfort should also and especially apply to himself.
The critical imaging of the men of power will experience another climax in 1972 with Mao's portrait by Warhol.
He focuses his analysis on two popes, the image of the painting of Innocent X by Velazquez and a photograph of the Pope of his time, Pius XII. Reigning since 1939, Pius XII had been confronted with the atrocities of war and racism with an efficiency that would later be disputed. His elongated head and hollow cheeks perfectly illustrate the theme chosen by Bacon.
On February 11 in London, Christie's sells Study for a head painted by Bacon in 1955, oil on canvas 102 x 77 cm, lot 17.
In the expressive style of the artist, the face of the pope is perfectly recognizable, and his glasses were not omitted. The dark colors on a black background increase the tragic feeling that haunts Francis after the Battleship Potemkin.
What was happening into the troubled mind of the artist ? A continuity of style is established between this painting and his first self-portrait, made in the following year, as if Francis suddenly understood that the vulnerability of others that aroused his discomfort should also and especially apply to himself.
The critical imaging of the men of power will experience another climax in 1972 with Mao's portrait by Warhol.
1958 Pope with Owls
2021 SOLD for $ 33M by Phillips
Since 1952 Francis Bacon is madly in love with Peter Lacy. Europe is not favorable to homosexuality and Peter settles in Tangier. From 1956 Francis visits him frequently. He works a lot despite the sadistic violence of his lover. Disillusioned by these increasingly insupportable conditions and by Peter's lack of interest in his art, Francis breaks up in 1959 and destroys almost all his Tangier paintings.
Throughout this period, his two major themes are the portraits of the ordinary man and the reinterpretations of the Velazquez pope. The two series match together over the great question of the meaning of life in a hostile world, nourished by the Freudian horror of the abusive authority of the father,
The popes of the Moroccan period have a very limited resemblance with Innocent X and lost the scream of the Potemkin. The mouth is open on a sharp set of teeth ready to bite, some of them missing in the jaw. The cheeks are emaciated. The face is painted in a thick impasto that reveals the violence of the gesture of the artist.
Pope with owls, oil on canvas 145 x 110 cm painted ca 1958, was acquired by its first owner directly from the artist in Tangier in 1959.
The papal figure in a dark staging of deep purple and dark red is haunting. His laughter reveals his craziness and indirectly the dead end of Francis's relation with Peter. The arms of the chair are closing onto him, canceling any hope to escape.
A pair of night birds perched as finials over the seat are watching straight forward, questioning the viewer from their cold gaze.
Pope with Owls was sold for $ 33M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 16.
Throughout this period, his two major themes are the portraits of the ordinary man and the reinterpretations of the Velazquez pope. The two series match together over the great question of the meaning of life in a hostile world, nourished by the Freudian horror of the abusive authority of the father,
The popes of the Moroccan period have a very limited resemblance with Innocent X and lost the scream of the Potemkin. The mouth is open on a sharp set of teeth ready to bite, some of them missing in the jaw. The cheeks are emaciated. The face is painted in a thick impasto that reveals the violence of the gesture of the artist.
Pope with owls, oil on canvas 145 x 110 cm painted ca 1958, was acquired by its first owner directly from the artist in Tangier in 1959.
The papal figure in a dark staging of deep purple and dark red is haunting. His laughter reveals his craziness and indirectly the dead end of Francis's relation with Peter. The arms of the chair are closing onto him, canceling any hope to escape.
A pair of night birds perched as finials over the seat are watching straight forward, questioning the viewer from their cold gaze.
Pope with Owls was sold for $ 33M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 16.
1960 Seated Figure
2014 SOLD for $ 45M by Christie's
The arrival of the papal figures in the art of Francis Bacon goes back to his early period of which almost nothing remains since he destroyed his works. Starting just after the Second World War, this theme is political : a pope is also a man, and the luxury inherent in his position cannot hide a psychological distress.
The model is famous : the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez. As a precaution, Bacon would not see the original artwork for not altering his creative impetus. For over fifteen years, he executed about fifty paintings on this theme. The earliest were screaming their incompetence at offering a better world.
Around 1960, Bacon's popes become silent, as tragic as the screaming characters. The colors are brushed in powerful gestures that make the face unreadable and unidentifiable. He will proceed in the same way for some portraits of his friends in Soho. The throne becomes neutral but the atmosphere in red and crimson maintains the original message of political absurdity.
A Seated figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, was sold for $ 45M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 45. This opus is directly inspired from Velazquez by the petrified position of the character and by its dominant red.
The model is famous : the portrait of Innocent X by Velazquez. As a precaution, Bacon would not see the original artwork for not altering his creative impetus. For over fifteen years, he executed about fifty paintings on this theme. The earliest were screaming their incompetence at offering a better world.
Around 1960, Bacon's popes become silent, as tragic as the screaming characters. The colors are brushed in powerful gestures that make the face unreadable and unidentifiable. He will proceed in the same way for some portraits of his friends in Soho. The throne becomes neutral but the atmosphere in red and crimson maintains the original message of political absurdity.
A Seated figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, was sold for $ 45M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 45. This opus is directly inspired from Velazquez by the petrified position of the character and by its dominant red.
1961 Portrait of the Club Owner
2015 SOLD for $ 28M including premium
Francis Bacon never worked in the presence of his model. His desire was to exhale the deep and intimate personality of his friends. In 1959, aged half a century, Francis takes as the theme of his figures the men and women with whom he spends his nights in Soho. He commissions their photos to John Deakin who was part of his group.
Muriel Belcher is of course included in this project. He knew her for a long time. When she opened her private drinking club in 1948, this lesbian activist paid Francis to bring his homosexual male friends.
Muriel is not a beauty but that does not discourage Francis who does not seek eroticism in women but empathy. Why does he display her seated in the nude on a disordered sofa ? Did she play for Deakin such a prudish attitude with carefully crossed legs hiding the sex?
This oil on canvas 165 x 142 cm simply titled Seated woman was painted in 1961. It was sold for € 13.7 million including premium by Sotheby's on 12 December 2007. It is now estimated $ 25M for sale by Phillips in New York on May 14, lot 33.
This uncommon personality was also authoritarian and bad tempered. Above her uninteresting and unappealing nude body, Francis showed the old-fashioned hair parted in the middle, the prominent chin and the bushy eyebrows in a cubist composition of two mingled profiles.
The clear face is encircled by the hair and the shade of cheeks and chin, building the shape of a heart or of an apple with its stalk, a surprising way found by the artist to encode his friendship with his former sponsor. Francis Bacon will never stop surprising us.
Muriel Belcher is of course included in this project. He knew her for a long time. When she opened her private drinking club in 1948, this lesbian activist paid Francis to bring his homosexual male friends.
Muriel is not a beauty but that does not discourage Francis who does not seek eroticism in women but empathy. Why does he display her seated in the nude on a disordered sofa ? Did she play for Deakin such a prudish attitude with carefully crossed legs hiding the sex?
This oil on canvas 165 x 142 cm simply titled Seated woman was painted in 1961. It was sold for € 13.7 million including premium by Sotheby's on 12 December 2007. It is now estimated $ 25M for sale by Phillips in New York on May 14, lot 33.
This uncommon personality was also authoritarian and bad tempered. Above her uninteresting and unappealing nude body, Francis showed the old-fashioned hair parted in the middle, the prominent chin and the bushy eyebrows in a cubist composition of two mingled profiles.
The clear face is encircled by the hair and the shade of cheeks and chin, building the shape of a heart or of an apple with its stalk, a surprising way found by the artist to encode his friendship with his former sponsor. Francis Bacon will never stop surprising us.
1962 Study from Innocent X by Bacon
2007 SOLD for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Criticism of religion is an inspiration for Francis Bacon. In 1944 he mixed Christianity with the horrors of war in Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which he considered as his first completed work. This image assured him a scandalous success. To feed art rather than controversy, he then opted for a socially less destructive amalgam between the Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Velazquez and the scream from Eisenstein's Potemkin.
During the 1950s Francis retains from Innocent X the psychosis of a human being who has been given a preeminent role far beyond his abilities. His screaming Popes from that time, in bust or half-length on a dark background, are irremediably locked on their thrones.
Around 1960 his desires change. It is the good life in Soho. He interprets the ugliness of his friends through the photos by John Deakin. His Popes are becoming rarer.
Francis only knew Velazquez's Innocent X from chromos, but he appreciates that the color palette contributes greatly to the psychological effect. Seated Figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, is more directly inspired by Velazquez for the petrified position of the character and for its new dominant red. It was sold for $ 45M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014.
An oil on canvas 198 x 142 cm painted in 1962 is even more explicit. The title, Study from Innocent X, even lost the ambiguity that Francis loved so much. The composition is enlarged compared to Velazquez and to Seated Figure, staging the whole scene in an empty room. The curled-up man is locked with his seat in the filiform cage that Francis used to display humans to monkeys.
Study from Innocent X was sold for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 22.
During the 1950s Francis retains from Innocent X the psychosis of a human being who has been given a preeminent role far beyond his abilities. His screaming Popes from that time, in bust or half-length on a dark background, are irremediably locked on their thrones.
Around 1960 his desires change. It is the good life in Soho. He interprets the ugliness of his friends through the photos by John Deakin. His Popes are becoming rarer.
Francis only knew Velazquez's Innocent X from chromos, but he appreciates that the color palette contributes greatly to the psychological effect. Seated Figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, is more directly inspired by Velazquez for the petrified position of the character and for its new dominant red. It was sold for $ 45M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014.
An oil on canvas 198 x 142 cm painted in 1962 is even more explicit. The title, Study from Innocent X, even lost the ambiguity that Francis loved so much. The composition is enlarged compared to Velazquez and to Seated Figure, staging the whole scene in an empty room. The curled-up man is locked with his seat in the filiform cage that Francis used to display humans to monkeys.
Study from Innocent X was sold for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 22.
1962 Study for the Flesh of Man
2014 SOLD 22.6 M$ including premium
In 1961, Francis Bacon has long been a regular of Soho drinking clubs. Peter Lacy, his sadistic lover, is far away. In the indescribable mess of his studio, he seeks inspiration in the photos of his friends that John Deakin provides to him.
This is one among many psychologically difficult periods for Bacon. In his quest on the nature of the human condition, he considers the nude. His studies of women show a decay of the body to an extent rarely seen in art. The sharp drawing makes untenable such a vision.
The sitting woman 165 x 142 cm that sold for € 13.7 million including premium at Sotheby's on December 12, 2007 is Muriel Belcher. The barely identifiable crouching woman 198 x 145 cm that sold for £ 8.2 million including premium at Sotheby's on June 29, 2011 looks like a reminiscence of Max Ernst's horrors of war.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm painted in 1962 entitled Figure turning, estimated $ 20M, lot 37.
In contrast to the female nudes, this figure of a naked man is sculptural, made expressive by subtle variations in the color of flesh. Balancing on one leg in Bacon's signature empty room, he does not reveal who he is or why he is here. His shadow on a floor that does not seem shiny is the birth of his ghost.
This is one among many psychologically difficult periods for Bacon. In his quest on the nature of the human condition, he considers the nude. His studies of women show a decay of the body to an extent rarely seen in art. The sharp drawing makes untenable such a vision.
The sitting woman 165 x 142 cm that sold for € 13.7 million including premium at Sotheby's on December 12, 2007 is Muriel Belcher. The barely identifiable crouching woman 198 x 145 cm that sold for £ 8.2 million including premium at Sotheby's on June 29, 2011 looks like a reminiscence of Max Ernst's horrors of war.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas 198 x 145 cm painted in 1962 entitled Figure turning, estimated $ 20M, lot 37.
In contrast to the female nudes, this figure of a naked man is sculptural, made expressive by subtle variations in the color of flesh. Balancing on one leg in Bacon's signature empty room, he does not reveal who he is or why he is here. His shadow on a floor that does not seem shiny is the birth of his ghost.
