Francis Bacon
1909 – 1992
Biography
Francis Bacon was a British figurative painter, born in Ireland in 1909 and has been described as one of the most famous and controversial British contemporary artists.
His art is notable for its bold and often violent imagery. He started painting in his 20s but first received widespread recognition in 1944 with Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. This piece along with the numerous images of head and figures he produced from the late-1940s through to the early 1960s cemented his reputation in the art world. One of his most notable series, his post-war works based on Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, depicts hellish images of screaming popes, entrapped in their thrones. Such connotations of insufferable pain and anguish are a repeated theme throughout his body of work.
In the later decades of the twentieth century, respect and admiration for Bacon's works swelled to the extent that his art can now be found in many major collections all over the world. His pieces display a fascination for dislocation and contortion of the subject, delivered in brilliant coloration. Bacon died in 1992 at the age of 82 in Madrid, Spain.
His works have been the subject of three Tate exhibitions, two during his lifetime and the final in 2008 to mark the centenary of his birth. This exhibition travels to the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA during 2009.
Images
Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X 1953 Oil on canvas 153 x 118.1 cm © The Estate of Francis Bacon, DACS 2010. This work of art is not currently owned by Collection of Modern Art Inc. The work is solely used to indicate the type of works the fund aspires to acquire in the near future.
Untitled (Crouching Nude On Rail) 1952 Oil on canvas 196.9 x 136.7 cm © The Estate of Francis Bacon, DACS 2010. This work of art is not currently owned by Collection of Modern Art Inc. The work is solely used to indicate the type of works the fund aspires to acquire in the near future.