Francis Bacon

Basic Data

Francis Bacon remains a central figure in modern art who intensively explored the human condition.

Biography

Childhood & youth

Francis Bacon was born on October 28, 1909 in Dublin, Ireland, the second of five children. His family was wealthy and his father, a retired British Army officer, ran a horse breeding farm. Bacon grew up in a conservative and strict environment dominated by his father, with whom he had a strained relationship. Even in his youth, Bacon's health is fragile; among other things, he suffers from severe asthma, which prevents him from engaging in physical activities such as horse riding, which his father favors.

Bacon's childhood is characterized by loneliness and alienation. His homosexuality, which he recognized early on, led to tensions within the family and social exclusion. In 1926, Bacon was finally thrown out of the house by his father when he found out about his sexual orientation. Bacon moves to London, where he keeps his head above water with occasional jobs as an interior decorator, furniture and carpet designer. However, his creative streak was already evident at this stage, although he would not take up painting seriously until somewhat later.

Early artistic experiments and the influence of Pablo Picasso

In the late 1920s, Bacon traveled to Berlin and Paris, where he came into contact with avant-garde art and the emerging modern movements. A visit to an exhibition by Pablo Picasso in Paris in 1927 had a particularly profound influence on Bacon's artistic direction. Inspired by Picasso's forms, which distort and fragment the human body, Bacon began to take a serious interest in painting.

Despite this, Bacon's early artistic output was initially unsuccessful and his early works received little attention. In the 1930s, he spent time in Paris and London, experimenting with surrealism and working as a designer. However, he regarded his early works as unsatisfactory and destroyed many of them. His breakthrough as a painter would not come until after the Second World War, when Bacon increasingly focused on the human figure, which he depicted in a shocking and disturbing way.

Breakthrough with “Three Studies for Figures at the Foot of a Crucifixion”

In 1944, Bacon achieved his artistic breakthrough with the triptych “Three Studies for Figures at the Foot of a Crucifixion”, which definitively established his unique and disturbing visual language. The work shows deformed, screaming and suffering creatures that confront the viewer with intense emotional violence. It is this mixture of pain, despair and existential loneliness that runs through Bacon's entire oeuvre from then on.

Bacon often uses religious and mythological themes, but instead of redemption, his works focus on human suffering, the fragility of the body and the cruelty of existence. His style, which is characterized by a grotesque distortion of the human form, bold colors and a crude brushwork, makes him one of the leading representatives of existentialism in art.

The works of the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, whose sequences of moving human bodies inspired Bacon to distort and deform figures in his paintings, were particularly influential for Bacon. Bacon's intense, almost brutal use of color and form creates a visual language that attacks the viewer emotionally and physica

Thematic exploration: The human body and suffering

The main themes of Bacon's work are violence, loneliness, suffering and the fragile nature of human existence. In his paintings, he concentrates almost exclusively on the human figure, which he often depicts in claustrophobic, barren spaces. These spaces reinforce the feeling of isolation and loneliness, while the deformed, screaming faces and bodies represent the fear and suffering of modern man.

Another iconic work from this period is his series of “Pope Portraits”, particularly a study based on Velázquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953). Inspired by Diego Velázquez's famous painting of the Pope, Bacon depicts the Pope as a figure screaming and trapped in fear. The work would become one of his most famous paintings and exemplifies Bacon's ability to transform authority figures and traditional religious motifs into harrowing, distorted depictions of human anguish.

Bacon's treatment of the human figure is always extremely physical, viewing the body not as beauty but as flesh that can be molded, distorted and destroyed. His works reflect his own view of humanity, which is characterized by violence and destruction, but also by a deep sensitivity to the fragility of life.

Later years and personal tragedies

In the 1960s and 1970s, Bacon became internationally recognized and his works were exhibited in the world's largest museums. Despite his growing fame, Bacon remained a difficult and torn man. His life was characterized by excessive alcohol and drug consumption, and his relationships were often problematic and turbulent.

One of the most formative relationships in Bacon's life is that with his lover and muse, George Dyer. Dyer appears in many of Bacon's paintings as a distorted and suffering figure. The relationship between the two men is characterized by violence and conflict, and Dyer's suicide in 1971 leaves Bacon with a deep wound. Bacon's Black Triptychs (1973), which deal with Dyer's death, are among the most powerful and intense depictions of loss and grief in modern art.

Despite these personal tragedies, Bacon remained productive into old age and continued to develop his art. His later works show an increasing reduction of forms and an even stronger focus on the themes of death and transience.

Legacy and influence

Francis Bacon died on April 28, 1992 in Madrid following a heart attack. Despite his eccentric and often self-destructive lifestyle, he left behind an extensive and powerful body of work that continues to have a major influence on contemporary art today. His uncompromising exploration of the darker side of human existence and his ability to depict the suffering and violence of the modern world in such a disturbing way make him one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

Today, Bacon's work is exhibited in the world's most important museums, including the Tate Britain in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His paintings fetch record prices at auction and he is considered one of the most influential painters of his generation. Artists and critics praise his ability to depict the human figure in a way that is simultaneously shocking, deeply moving and of timeless significance.

Exhibitions

• 30.01.2022 – 17.04.2022 Francis Bacon: Man and Beast – Royal Academy of Arts, London.
• 15.05.2019 – 08.09.2019 Bacon – Giacometti – Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel. 
• 13.09.2008 – 05.01.2009 Francis Bacon. A Retrospective – Tate Britain, London. 
• 30.09.1971 – 18.11.1971 Francis Bacon Retrospective – Grand Palais, Paris. 

Awards

• 1968 Elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
• 1971 Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), awarded for his artistic merits.
• 1992 Awarded the Praemium Imperiale for Painting, Japan Art Association, Tokyo.

Films

• Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence, Documentary, Richard Curson Smith, 85 Min, BBC, UK 2017. 
• Francis Bacon, Documentary, Melvyn Bragg, 60 Min, UK 1985.

Literature

• Francis Bacon. In the Mirror of Photography. Collecting, Preparatory, Practice and Painting, Katharina Günther, Berlin 2022.
• Francis Bacon, Cy Twombly, David Hornemann v. Laer, Frankfurt am Main 2022.
• Francis Bacon. Unsichtbare Räume, Ina Conzen, Munich 2016.

Collections

USA

• New York -  The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
• Washington D.C. – Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

• Chicago – Art Institute of Chicago
• Los Angeles – The Broad

UK

• London – Tate Britain
• London – Royal Academy of Arts

France

• Paris – Centre Pompidou

Weblinks

• Official Website of the Francis Bacon Estate