Francis BACON (1909-1992)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Top 10 Bacon < 1963 Bacon 1963-70 Later Bacons Head triptych The Man Nude Animals Bird
Chronology : 20th century 1952 1960-1969 1962 1963 1964 1966 1969 1970-1979 1976 1980-1989 1981 1984
See also : Top 10 Bacon < 1963 Bacon 1963-70 Later Bacons Head triptych The Man Nude Animals Bird
Chronology : 20th century 1952 1960-1969 1962 1963 1964 1966 1969 1970-1979 1976 1980-1989 1981 1984
masterpiece
1949 Head VI
Hayward Gallery
Francis Bacon used to destroy his own works as soon as executed as far as he was not happy with the maturity of his style. 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.
The post-war artists feel an irrepressible need to shout their disgust. 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 fool 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 releases 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.
At the invitation of Brausen, Bacon exhibits ten paintings from November 8 to December 10, 1949 at the Hanover Gallery : the six Heads, three Studies and a Figure in a landscape.
Time has finally come for that so desired maturity. The discovery of the 40 year old artist was a shock for the art community. Taking foot against all themes in fashion, Bacon expresses horror, abjection, loneliness and animality of man. Art critics led by Wyndham Lewis are already enthusiastic.
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 figures. The nose clip, an outdated artifact, adorns the face of the man in Head III. In Head VI, the scream of the nurse gives a provocative meaning to Velazquez's Pope.
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. It was sold for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's on June 26, 2013.
Head VI was Bacon's first work that was directly inspired by the Velazquez portrait of Innocent X. The papal throne, not visible in Head I, has become a straitjacket, and the character has lost any freedom of movement.
For many years Bacon will paint 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.
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.
The post-war artists feel an irrepressible need to shout their disgust. 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 fool 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 releases 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.
At the invitation of Brausen, Bacon exhibits ten paintings from November 8 to December 10, 1949 at the Hanover Gallery : the six Heads, three Studies and a Figure in a landscape.
Time has finally come for that so desired maturity. The discovery of the 40 year old artist was a shock for the art community. Taking foot against all themes in fashion, Bacon expresses horror, abjection, loneliness and animality of man. Art critics led by Wyndham Lewis are already enthusiastic.
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 figures. The nose clip, an outdated artifact, adorns the face of the man in Head III. In Head VI, the scream of the nurse gives a provocative meaning to Velazquez's Pope.
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. It was sold for £ 10.4M by Sotheby's on June 26, 2013.
Head VI was Bacon's first work that was directly inspired by the Velazquez portrait of Innocent X. The papal throne, not visible in Head I, has become a straitjacket, and the character has lost any freedom of movement.
For many years Bacon will paint 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.
1952 Study for a Head
2019 SOLD for $ 50M by Sotheby's
On May 16, 2019, Sotheby's sold for $ 50M from a lower estimate of $ 20M Study for a Head, oil and sand on canvas 66 x 56 cm painted in 1952, lot 9.
This nightmare is heavily inspired by the character of the Potemkin. The pontifical inspiration is not obvious in this specific opus.
This nightmare is heavily inspired by the character of the Potemkin. The pontifical inspiration is not obvious in this specific opus.
1962 Study from Innocent X
2007 SOLD for $ 53M by Sotheby's
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 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 by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 22.
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 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 by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 22.
1963 Three Studies for a Portrait of 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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 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.
1964 Study for Portrait of 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 Portrait of George Dyer Talking
2014 SOLD for £ 42M by Christie's
The sentimental history of Francis Bacon is complex. Dominated by the sadistic Peter, he himself went to be abusive to George Dyer. Their alcohol addictions are 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 pictorial distorsions 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 passed at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013.
From 1966 to 1968 Francis Bacon created ten large size unsympathetic portraits of the handsome George Dyer in the nude.
The first opus in the series is titled Portrait of George Dyer Crouching in the reverse and dated 1966. The title suggests a bestial action.
Francis's lover is crouching on the edge a coffee table that looks like a diving board locked up in a circular sofa. He looks down at his discarded shirt on the seat. His setting provides a much vulnerable impression in contradiction with the hyper-muscular strength, anticipating his demise. This position may have been inspired from a Crouching boy sculpted by Michelangelo.
This oil on canvas 198 x 147 cm was sold for $ 28M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2024, lot 115. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On February 13, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 42M from a lower estimate of £ 30M the Portrait of George Dyer Talking, so titled on the reverse and dated 1966, painted in same dimensions 198 x 147 cm, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The huge body of the boxer, 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 an interlocutor out of the field. 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 pictorial distorsions 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 passed at Sotheby's on May 14, 2013.
From 1966 to 1968 Francis Bacon created ten large size unsympathetic portraits of the handsome George Dyer in the nude.
The first opus in the series is titled Portrait of George Dyer Crouching in the reverse and dated 1966. The title suggests a bestial action.
Francis's lover is crouching on the edge a coffee table that looks like a diving board locked up in a circular sofa. He looks down at his discarded shirt on the seat. His setting provides a much vulnerable impression in contradiction with the hyper-muscular strength, anticipating his demise. This position may have been inspired from a Crouching boy sculpted by Michelangelo.
This oil on canvas 198 x 147 cm was sold for $ 28M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2024, lot 115. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On February 13, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 42M from a lower estimate of £ 30M the Portrait of George Dyer Talking, so titled on the reverse and dated 1966, painted in same dimensions 198 x 147 cm, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The huge body of the boxer, 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 an interlocutor out of the field. 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 Three Studies of Lucian Freud
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.
1976 Triptych
2008 SOLD for $ 86M by Sotheby's
In 1976 Francis Bacon prepares an exhibition of new works at the Galerie Claude Bernard in Paris. The highlight is a triptych in oil and pastel on canvas, 198 x 148 cm for each element. It was sold for $ 86M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008, lot 33.
This triptych brings together a synthesis of Francis' career, as Picasso had done twenty years earlier with his series of Les Femmes d'Alger.
Five years after the suicide of George Dyer, Francis confirms that the major inspirations of his art and of his life are suffering, guilt and punishment. The main figure in the central panel is a headless Prometheus tortured by the eagle, in a composition similar to 'Painting 1946'. Other symbols on this panel include the Furies disguised as pelicans and a chalice dripping with blood.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the young artist was gradually destroying his own work. This phase of creative dissatisfaction ended after the revelation to him of the two most tragic characters in the Greek theater, Prometheus and Orestes by Aeschylus.
The very first work he considered completed, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, in 1944, a triptych of elements 94 x 74 cm, is an interpretation of the mourners inspired by the Furies of Orestes. 'Painting 1946', 198 x 132 cm, was commented by Bacon : he had started painting a figure of a monkey, the alter ego of mankind, when the punishing eagle arrived in his subconscious.
The triptychs of 198 x 148 cm panels are the format chosen by Bacon in his later career for works he could consider as his masterpieces.
This triptych brings together a synthesis of Francis' career, as Picasso had done twenty years earlier with his series of Les Femmes d'Alger.
Five years after the suicide of George Dyer, Francis confirms that the major inspirations of his art and of his life are suffering, guilt and punishment. The main figure in the central panel is a headless Prometheus tortured by the eagle, in a composition similar to 'Painting 1946'. Other symbols on this panel include the Furies disguised as pelicans and a chalice dripping with blood.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the young artist was gradually destroying his own work. This phase of creative dissatisfaction ended after the revelation to him of the two most tragic characters in the Greek theater, Prometheus and Orestes by Aeschylus.
The very first work he considered completed, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, in 1944, a triptych of elements 94 x 74 cm, is an interpretation of the mourners inspired by the Furies of Orestes. 'Painting 1946', 198 x 132 cm, was commented by Bacon : he had started painting a figure of a monkey, the alter ego of mankind, when the punishing eagle arrived in his subconscious.
The triptychs of 198 x 148 cm panels are the format chosen by Bacon in his later career for works he could consider as his masterpieces.
1976 Figure in Movement
2023 SOLD for $ 52M by Christie's
The life of Francis Bacon is dominated and ruined by his existential questioning, but that is why he is one of the most disturbing artists of his time.
In an early phase Francis paints horrible old popes, idols in decay. When George Dyer becomes his symbol of handsome youth, he confronts him with himself and the pope. For seven years, his relationship with this brute looking man had been ambiguous. Beyond homosexuality, Bacon was amused to see the former crook falling into alcoholism.
George's death in 1971 reveals a posteriori to Francis that this young man of whom he had fun had indeed an existence. There is no doubt that Francis's mourning was terrible, deep and lasting.
A time comes for every sensitive man when death of younger people creates anxieties about his own destiny. In 1976, five years after George's passing, Francis Bacon could still not terminate his mourning. His art was the only possible support to meet the dead man, again and again, and to confront his own mortality. It was one of the most original and most creative periods of his artistic career.
The triptych is a way to recreate the tridimensional figure by offering different views of the same subject, and it was always a favorite mode of expression for Bacon.
The other way to achieve the same result is the juxtaposition in the artwork of the character and of his image through the mirror. The writing figure, oil on canvas 198 x 147 cm, is a single work that is in many ways comparable to the famous triptych.
This naked man sitting on a simple bar stool is George, featured by his muscular back. He is lending on a shelf and he writes. Incredible: George is writing. But let's say instead that Francis would have been keen if George had endeavoured to write. George died before Francis could fully understand him, and the mirror is also a symbol of death.
This painting was sold for $ 45M by Sotheby's on May 9, 2012, lot 19.
The painting titled Figure in Movement is paradoxically featuring the young body immobilized on the red platform by a nude wrestler with a fist raised. The head is turned in pain to rest on the floor. Who is the torturer ? Is he Francis's remorse or an allegory of death ? The title is derived by Francis from The Human Figure in Motion, a photo sequence of nude wrestlers by Muybridge that anticipated the invention of motion pictures.
George and his fellow are staged amidst signature elements of Francis. They are displayed on a red colored bullfighting ring within a threadlike cube in the existentialist style borrowed from Giacometti. A fury is watching from behind the cube, representing Francis's impossibility to escape his fate. A mirror reveals George's nude buttocks in a surrealist way opposed to the logical transfer of the image. The carpet is a newspaper made of Letraset letters meaning that Francis's muse is escaping the present day.
This oil on canvas 200 x 147 cm was sold for $ 52M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 12 B.
In an early phase Francis paints horrible old popes, idols in decay. When George Dyer becomes his symbol of handsome youth, he confronts him with himself and the pope. For seven years, his relationship with this brute looking man had been ambiguous. Beyond homosexuality, Bacon was amused to see the former crook falling into alcoholism.
George's death in 1971 reveals a posteriori to Francis that this young man of whom he had fun had indeed an existence. There is no doubt that Francis's mourning was terrible, deep and lasting.
A time comes for every sensitive man when death of younger people creates anxieties about his own destiny. In 1976, five years after George's passing, Francis Bacon could still not terminate his mourning. His art was the only possible support to meet the dead man, again and again, and to confront his own mortality. It was one of the most original and most creative periods of his artistic career.
The triptych is a way to recreate the tridimensional figure by offering different views of the same subject, and it was always a favorite mode of expression for Bacon.
The other way to achieve the same result is the juxtaposition in the artwork of the character and of his image through the mirror. The writing figure, oil on canvas 198 x 147 cm, is a single work that is in many ways comparable to the famous triptych.
This naked man sitting on a simple bar stool is George, featured by his muscular back. He is lending on a shelf and he writes. Incredible: George is writing. But let's say instead that Francis would have been keen if George had endeavoured to write. George died before Francis could fully understand him, and the mirror is also a symbol of death.
This painting was sold for $ 45M by Sotheby's on May 9, 2012, lot 19.
The painting titled Figure in Movement is paradoxically featuring the young body immobilized on the red platform by a nude wrestler with a fist raised. The head is turned in pain to rest on the floor. Who is the torturer ? Is he Francis's remorse or an allegory of death ? The title is derived by Francis from The Human Figure in Motion, a photo sequence of nude wrestlers by Muybridge that anticipated the invention of motion pictures.
George and his fellow are staged amidst signature elements of Francis. They are displayed on a red colored bullfighting ring within a threadlike cube in the existentialist style borrowed from Giacometti. A fury is watching from behind the cube, representing Francis's impossibility to escape his fate. A mirror reveals George's nude buttocks in a surrealist way opposed to the logical transfer of the image. The carpet is a newspaper made of Letraset letters meaning that Francis's muse is escaping the present day.
This oil on canvas 200 x 147 cm was sold for $ 52M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 12 B.
1981 Triptych inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus
2020 SOLD for $ 85M by Sotheby's
Francis Bacon has long sought his way to illustrate human weaknesses and suffering. The major influence on his art is the Oresteia by Aeschylus. When he discovers this trilogy, he stops destroying his own productions. It is certainly no coincidence that his seminal work, made in 1944 at the age of 35, is a triptych.
This painting is titled Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. As a challenge against Christianity, he does not display the Passion but pictures of the Furies who forever pursue their vengeance on the guilty Orestes.
In 1962 Bacon begins using a new format for his completed works : the triptych of oils on canvas sized 198 x 148 cm for each element. He will make 28 of them. Aeschylus continues to haunt him. A triptych painted in 1976 featuring in the central panel Prometheus devoured by the eagle in the presence of the Furies was sold for $ 86M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008.
On June 29, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 85M from a lower estimate of $ 60M Triptych inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, painted in 1981, lot 105. Please watch the First Look video and the Expert Voices video shared by the auction house.
Unlike the Prometheus in the example above, the artist avoids any narrative aspect in his Oresteia to better focus on the sensations. The main figure of each of the three elements is made up of contorted nudity fragments. Homosexual, sado-masochist and atheist, Francis Bacon proclaims his difference by taking Aeschylus as a reference for interpreting the human passions and the impossibility of escaping the Furies of destiny.
This painting is titled Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. As a challenge against Christianity, he does not display the Passion but pictures of the Furies who forever pursue their vengeance on the guilty Orestes.
In 1962 Bacon begins using a new format for his completed works : the triptych of oils on canvas sized 198 x 148 cm for each element. He will make 28 of them. Aeschylus continues to haunt him. A triptych painted in 1976 featuring in the central panel Prometheus devoured by the eagle in the presence of the Furies was sold for $ 86M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2008.
On June 29, 2020, Sotheby's sold for $ 85M from a lower estimate of $ 60M Triptych inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, painted in 1981, lot 105. Please watch the First Look video and the Expert Voices video shared by the auction house.
Unlike the Prometheus in the example above, the artist avoids any narrative aspect in his Oresteia to better focus on the sensations. The main figure of each of the three elements is made up of contorted nudity fragments. Homosexual, sado-masochist and atheist, Francis Bacon proclaims his difference by taking Aeschylus as a reference for interpreting the human passions and the impossibility of escaping the Furies of destiny.
1984 Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards
2014 SOLD for $ 81M by Christie's
Francis Bacon enjoyed confrontations. Having become famous, he despised the deference of his interlocutors. In 1974 in Soho, he was aggressed by the bartender John Edwards who criticized his selfishness after a missed visit to his London pub. John was right. Francis returns to his studio and begins to paint his first portrait of John Edwards.
John was handicapped by a severe dyslexia which had ruined his education. He could barely read and write but his behavior was direct and sociable. Francis will say of John that he was the only true friend he ever had. The age difference was 40 years. John will be the sole heir of Francis and keeper of his estate.
Such a trust was new to the old artist. John became his photographer. This strong boy could also be his bodyguard. On happy days, he had the privilege of entering the workshop while Francis was painting. He was the only witness to the lifelong drama of the artist who constantly seemed to be fighting with his canvas.
Francis painted more than twenty portraits of John. Their friendship changed his style. No more caricatured faces and deliquescent bodies.
A large size triptych portrait of John painted in 1984, 198 x 148 cm for each element, was sold for $ 81M by Christie's on May 13, 2014. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
John is gently seated on a stool and normally dressed. He is recognizable by his prominent jaw which the artist reinforced with a white line in the two side views. The face is made expressive by his usual range of colors, from flesh to crimson. The sitter is enclosed in Bacon's signature threadlike cage which was a tribute to Giacometti. The large empty room with the concave wall is the arena in which the artist exhibits his model.
The originality of this artwork in Bacon's corpus is that the face is realistic, peaceful and confident. Francis stated that John's triptych is one of his most successful works. It certainly means that his empathy with the disabled model was complete.
John was handicapped by a severe dyslexia which had ruined his education. He could barely read and write but his behavior was direct and sociable. Francis will say of John that he was the only true friend he ever had. The age difference was 40 years. John will be the sole heir of Francis and keeper of his estate.
Such a trust was new to the old artist. John became his photographer. This strong boy could also be his bodyguard. On happy days, he had the privilege of entering the workshop while Francis was painting. He was the only witness to the lifelong drama of the artist who constantly seemed to be fighting with his canvas.
Francis painted more than twenty portraits of John. Their friendship changed his style. No more caricatured faces and deliquescent bodies.
A large size triptych portrait of John painted in 1984, 198 x 148 cm for each element, was sold for $ 81M by Christie's on May 13, 2014. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
John is gently seated on a stool and normally dressed. He is recognizable by his prominent jaw which the artist reinforced with a white line in the two side views. The face is made expressive by his usual range of colors, from flesh to crimson. The sitter is enclosed in Bacon's signature threadlike cage which was a tribute to Giacometti. The large empty room with the concave wall is the arena in which the artist exhibits his model.
The originality of this artwork in Bacon's corpus is that the face is realistic, peaceful and confident. Francis stated that John's triptych is one of his most successful works. It certainly means that his empathy with the disabled model was complete.
