Later Bacons
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Bacon The Man Head triptych Self portrait Nude Animals Bird
Chronology : 1970-1979 1971 1974 1975 1976 1977 1979 1980-1989 1981 1984 1987
See also : Bacon The Man Head triptych Self portrait Nude Animals Bird
Chronology : 1970-1979 1971 1974 1975 1976 1977 1979 1980-1989 1981 1984 1987
1971 Study of Red Pope
2022 SOLD for $ 46M by Sotheby's
The art of Francis Bacon mostly expressed his difficult psychological relationship with a questionable world. In an early phase, he looks at the decrepitude of his contemporaries, personified by the pope. Death is treated by everyone as a lie, with the exception of the image of the old woman in Eisenstein's movie.
After such a beginning, the artist does not have the right to get old. Francis takes care of his physical appearance but the ravages of time are inevitable. He tries a second youth by taking the handsome George Dyer as his whipping lover. In 1971 a single painting gathers George and the pope.
The work is titled Study of Red Pope, 2nd version by reference to a previous opus from 1962 in which the pope was similarly seated on his throne with a slightly different suffering face. The 1962 pope was alone. His 1971 counterpart is observed from a curved window by a half length George smartly dressed with tuxedo and tie. The quiet straightness of the friend is in full opposition with the crouching distress of the late pope from Velazquez.
It was exhibited in the Grand Palais in 1971. George had joined the camp of the dead 36 hours before the opening by taking his own life in a Paris hotel room. No pope will be painted by Francis any more.
This oil on canvas 178 x 148 cm was sold for $ 46M by Sotheby's on May 19, 2022, lot 115. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
After such a beginning, the artist does not have the right to get old. Francis takes care of his physical appearance but the ravages of time are inevitable. He tries a second youth by taking the handsome George Dyer as his whipping lover. In 1971 a single painting gathers George and the pope.
The work is titled Study of Red Pope, 2nd version by reference to a previous opus from 1962 in which the pope was similarly seated on his throne with a slightly different suffering face. The 1962 pope was alone. His 1971 counterpart is observed from a curved window by a half length George smartly dressed with tuxedo and tie. The quiet straightness of the friend is in full opposition with the crouching distress of the late pope from Velazquez.
It was exhibited in the Grand Palais in 1971. George had joined the camp of the dead 36 hours before the opening by taking his own life in a Paris hotel room. No pope will be painted by Francis any more.
This oil on canvas 178 x 148 cm was sold for $ 46M by Sotheby's on May 19, 2022, lot 115. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1974 Triptych 1974-77
2008 SOLD for £ 26.3M by Christie's
From March to June 1975, the solo exhibition of recent works by Francis Bacon at the Met was the first one after the traumatizing experience at the Grand Palais when George committed suicide in their hotel room.
In the mean time Francis made four tributes to his deceased lover in the large triptych format, three oils on canvas 198 x 148 cm each, which he only used for his achieved works. One of them, in oil, pastel and Letraset, was prepared for the Met. It was dated May-June 1974.
Each panel is centered on a nude male crouching figure, ready to enter the world of the dead. The central panel is an arena peeped from its wall by two flat monochrome Big Brother heads. On both side panels the same nude is featured on an open beach under a black umbrella. The left scene has two blurred figures far away. The beaches are otherwise deserted.
Originally the middle scene had a slug like bespectacled watcher in the foreground. In 1977 the artist preferred simplifying the message and removed that frivolous figure. From then the opus is designated as Triptych 1974-77. It was sold for £ 26.3M by Christie's on February 6, 2008, lot 35.
In the mean time Francis made four tributes to his deceased lover in the large triptych format, three oils on canvas 198 x 148 cm each, which he only used for his achieved works. One of them, in oil, pastel and Letraset, was prepared for the Met. It was dated May-June 1974.
Each panel is centered on a nude male crouching figure, ready to enter the world of the dead. The central panel is an arena peeped from its wall by two flat monochrome Big Brother heads. On both side panels the same nude is featured on an open beach under a black umbrella. The left scene has two blurred figures far away. The beaches are otherwise deserted.
Originally the middle scene had a slug like bespectacled watcher in the foreground. In 1977 the artist preferred simplifying the message and removed that frivolous figure. From then the opus is designated as Triptych 1974-77. It was sold for £ 26.3M by Christie's on February 6, 2008, lot 35.
1976 Three Studies for Self Portrait
2008 SOLD for $ 28M by Christie's
Since his beginnings in 1944, Francis Bacon emphasizes the triptych, enabling him to express in a single work the variants of incommunicability. In the life size head portrait format, these oils on canvas, designated as Studies by the artist, have a unique individual dimension, 35 x 30 cm. An early example is the 1964 portrait of Lucian Freud sold for £ 23M by Sotheby's in 2011.
The sordid suicide of George Dyer in 1971 stops the aging of a young man, leaving Francis with his doubts and anxieties about how to manage his own life.
After George's death, Francis Bacon wanders, psychologically and physically. His London friends are also aging, and he is looking for new acquaintances in the intellectual circles of Paris. John Deakin had died in 1972 and he is no more supplied with photographs of their Soho friends. He looks in his mirror for lack of a better source of inspiration. Over the years, he sees therein a kind of portrait of Dorian Gray : the true image of himself.
Morbid, disgusted, ever looking for the meaning of life, watching death at work in his own mirror, the artist comes again to one of his preferred subjects : himself. The distortion of the face lines and the violence of the colors do not remove the likeness of these self-portraits, but with the nose of an old alcoholic.
Taking as a model some images made in a photo boost, the artist manages through such triple pictures a motion reminiscent of Muybridge and also a sort of sequence of police shots and possibly the illusion of a tridimensional effect.
Made in 1974, the face of Bacon in triptych sold for $ 25.3M by Christie's on May 11, 2011, lot 36, has a revealing feature : he cannot look at himself because his eyes are shut.
A Study for Self Portrait with vague eyes painted in 1975 in his standardized life size triptych format 35 x 30 each was sold for £ 17.3M by Christie's on June 30, 2008, lot 29.
A Study for Self Portrait with half closed eyes painted in 1976 by Francis Bacon in his standardized life size triptych format 35 x 30 cm each was sold for $ 28M by Christie's on May 13, 2008, lot 10. In a kinetic sequence from the right to the left panel, a medical lens floats in front of the left cheek. The right eye looks much damaged like after a brawl.
The sordid suicide of George Dyer in 1971 stops the aging of a young man, leaving Francis with his doubts and anxieties about how to manage his own life.
After George's death, Francis Bacon wanders, psychologically and physically. His London friends are also aging, and he is looking for new acquaintances in the intellectual circles of Paris. John Deakin had died in 1972 and he is no more supplied with photographs of their Soho friends. He looks in his mirror for lack of a better source of inspiration. Over the years, he sees therein a kind of portrait of Dorian Gray : the true image of himself.
Morbid, disgusted, ever looking for the meaning of life, watching death at work in his own mirror, the artist comes again to one of his preferred subjects : himself. The distortion of the face lines and the violence of the colors do not remove the likeness of these self-portraits, but with the nose of an old alcoholic.
Taking as a model some images made in a photo boost, the artist manages through such triple pictures a motion reminiscent of Muybridge and also a sort of sequence of police shots and possibly the illusion of a tridimensional effect.
Made in 1974, the face of Bacon in triptych sold for $ 25.3M by Christie's on May 11, 2011, lot 36, has a revealing feature : he cannot look at himself because his eyes are shut.
A Study for Self Portrait with vague eyes painted in 1975 in his standardized life size triptych format 35 x 30 each was sold for £ 17.3M by Christie's on June 30, 2008, lot 29.
A Study for Self Portrait with half closed eyes painted in 1976 by Francis Bacon in his standardized life size triptych format 35 x 30 cm each was sold for $ 28M by Christie's on May 13, 2008, lot 10. In a kinetic sequence from the right to the left panel, a medical lens floats in front of the left cheek. The right eye looks much damaged like after a brawl.
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 untitled 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 untitled 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 Writing reflected in Mirror
2012 SOLD for $ 45M by Sotheby's
Francis Bacon was traumatized by the suicide of George Dyer, in 1971. 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.
A time comes for every sensitive man when death of younger people creates anxieties about his own destiny. In 1976, Bacon was still haunted by the memory of Dyer. 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 from a lower estimate of $ 30M by Sotheby's on May 9, 2012, lot 19.
A time comes for every sensitive man when death of younger people creates anxieties about his own destiny. In 1976, Bacon was still haunted by the memory of Dyer. 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 from a lower estimate of $ 30M by Sotheby's on May 9, 2012, lot 19.
1977 Study for a Portrait
2018 SOLD for $ 50M 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 becomes his symbol of handsome youth, he confronts him with himself and the pope. George's death 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.
Despite his ego Francis cannot stop the time. From 1976 he enters a restart process with old friends including Henrietta but he does not know how to accept and endure the aging of his own body.
On May 17, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 50M as lot 7 B Study for Portrait, oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted in 1977.
Francis had then ended his mourning : George is no longer a ghost but the idol of everlasting youth, sitting in underwear from the model of a photo taken in the first phase of their affair by John Deakin. His face is recognizable.
On a lilac surface in front of the idol, a dark form appears, ended by an accumulation of blood. It cannot be George's shadow because it is not consistent with any light. It is a flat selfie figure of Francis in his body that becomes disgusting. This identification is confirmed by the waste that surrounds it, marked by letters in dry transfer, which symbolizes the fabulous rubble in the artist's studio.
In an early phase Francis paints horrible old popes, idols in decay. When George becomes his symbol of handsome youth, he confronts him with himself and the pope. George's death 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.
Despite his ego Francis cannot stop the time. From 1976 he enters a restart process with old friends including Henrietta but he does not know how to accept and endure the aging of his own body.
On May 17, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 50M as lot 7 B Study for Portrait, oil on canvas 198 x 148 cm painted in 1977.
Francis had then ended his mourning : George is no longer a ghost but the idol of everlasting youth, sitting in underwear from the model of a photo taken in the first phase of their affair by John Deakin. His face is recognizable.
On a lilac surface in front of the idol, a dark form appears, ended by an accumulation of blood. It cannot be George's shadow because it is not consistent with any light. It is a flat selfie figure of Francis in his body that becomes disgusting. This identification is confirmed by the waste that surrounds it, marked by letters in dry transfer, which symbolizes the fabulous rubble in the artist's studio.
1979 Three Studies for Self Portrait
2022 SOLD for $ 29M by Christie's
Mortality is a thread line in the art of Francis Bacon. Early felt as a challenge, it became a personal tragedy after the untimely death of his love partners, Peter in 1962 and George in 1971. He painted no less than 29 self portraits in the 1970s. In 1979 the death of the club owner Muriel Belcher at 71 years old marks a termination of the feeling of good life in Soho.
Turning 70 in the same year, Francis feels of himself like a survivor, more than ever looking for the ravage of time on his own face.
This sad mood is reflected in a triptych again titled Three Studies for a Self Portrait painted in 1979, sold for $ 29M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 52.
These three faces bears marks of aging through patches of pink and blue over the pale flesh. The blazing orange background is a reminder of his first masterpiece in triptych, the 1944 Three studies of figures at the base of a crucifixion.
Turning 70 in the same year, Francis feels of himself like a survivor, more than ever looking for the ravage of time on his own face.
This sad mood is reflected in a triptych again titled Three Studies for a Self Portrait painted in 1979, sold for $ 29M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 52.
These three faces bears marks of aging through patches of pink and blue over the pale flesh. The blazing orange background is a reminder of his first masterpiece in triptych, the 1944 Three studies of figures at the base of a crucifixion.
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.
1986-1987 Tryptich
2022 SOLD for £ 38.5M by Christie's
Throughout his life, Francis Bacon never had an easy temperament. He tried to confront his inner self with the world without falling into a story telling. His preference to triptychs may be interpreted s a frustration of not being a movie maker.
One of his latest triptychs is made of three scenes without a relationship one another, excepted that the same pavement appears on both side elements and that the three actions emerge from a same deep black rectangular gate, certainly a reference to the nothingness.
This artwork is in the signature large format of the artist, composed of three panels 198 x 148 cm each, in oil, pastel, aerosol paint and dry transfer lettering on canvas. It is dated 1986-1987 and titled Tryptich, a mis-spelling that brings some timelessness and cannot be a blunder.
The central panel is personal. It features the head on John Edwards with the nude body and shadow of the late George Dyer.
The two side panels are referencing the drama of the political world from period press clippings of 1919 and 1940.
The left side is the figure of President Wilson leaving the Treaty of Versailles negotiations. The serious President who had just defined the fate of Europe has his dangling arms which call for the same disabled mood as Velazquez's pope.
The right side is a detail of the mess in Trotsky's working room in Mexico after his assassination, which prefigures the famous garbage in Bacon's studio. Possibly Trotsky's fate was for Bacon a reminiscence of the Oresteia.
This triptych was sold for £ 38.5M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 38.
One of his latest triptychs is made of three scenes without a relationship one another, excepted that the same pavement appears on both side elements and that the three actions emerge from a same deep black rectangular gate, certainly a reference to the nothingness.
This artwork is in the signature large format of the artist, composed of three panels 198 x 148 cm each, in oil, pastel, aerosol paint and dry transfer lettering on canvas. It is dated 1986-1987 and titled Tryptich, a mis-spelling that brings some timelessness and cannot be a blunder.
The central panel is personal. It features the head on John Edwards with the nude body and shadow of the late George Dyer.
The two side panels are referencing the drama of the political world from period press clippings of 1919 and 1940.
The left side is the figure of President Wilson leaving the Treaty of Versailles negotiations. The serious President who had just defined the fate of Europe has his dangling arms which call for the same disabled mood as Velazquez's pope.
The right side is a detail of the mess in Trotsky's working room in Mexico after his assassination, which prefigures the famous garbage in Bacon's studio. Possibly Trotsky's fate was for Bacon a reminiscence of the Oresteia.
This triptych was sold for £ 38.5M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 38.
